Quasienergy operators and generalized squeezed states for systems of trapped ions

Abstract

Collective many-body dynamics for time-dependent quantum Hamiltonians is investigated for a dynamical system that exhibits multiple degrees of freedom, in this case a combined (Paul and Penning) trap. Quantum stability is characterized by a discrete quasienergy spectrum, while the quasienergy states are symplectic coherent states. We introduce the generators of the Lie algebra of the symplectic group SL(2,R), which we use to build the coherent states (CS) associated to the system under investigation. The trapped ion is treated as a harmonic oscillator (HO) to which we associate the quantum Hamilton function. We obtain the kinetic and potential energy operators as functions of the Lie algebra generators and supply the expressions for the classical coordinate, momentum, kinetic and potential energy, along with the total energy. Moreover, we also infer the dispersions for the coordinate and momentum, together with the asymmetry and the flatness parameter for the distribution. The system interaction with laser radiation is also examined for a system of identical two-level atoms. The Hamilton function for the Dicke model is derived. The optical system is modelled as a HO (trapped ion) that undergoes interaction with an external laser field and we use it to engineer a squeezed state of the electromagnetic (EM) field. We consider coherent and squeezed states associated to both ion dynamics and to the EM field. The approach used enables one to build CS in a compact and smart manner by use of the group theory.