Wigner Function Research Articles

Nonclassical properties of a deformed atom-cavity field state

We analyse here a nonclassical state produced by an atom-cavity field interaction. The two-level atom is passed through the single-mode electromagnetic cavity field. By deforming the field operators and introducing nonlinearity to the classic Jaynes–Cummings model, we explore the system in respect of a nonlinear Hamiltonian. Assuming that the atom is in an excited state and the field is in a coherent state initially, the analytic expression for the state vector of the entire system state vector is obtained. With the help of the derived state vector, we calculate the photon number distribution, Mandel's parameter, Wigner function, anti-bunching, squeezing properties and Q function etc.

The information geometry of two-field functional integrals

Two-field functional integrals (2FFI) are an important class of solution methods for generating functions of dissipative processes, including discrete-state stochastic processes, dissipative dynamical systems, and decohering quantum densities. The stationary trajectories of these integrals describe a conserved current by Liouville’s theorem, despite the absence of a conserved kinematic phase space current in the underlying stochastic process. We develop the information geometry of generating functions for discrete-state classical stochastic processes in the Doi-Peliti 2FFI form, and exhibit two quantities conserved along stationary trajectories. One is a Wigner function, familiar as a semiclassical density from quantum-mechanical time-dependent density-matrix methods. The second is an overlap function, between directions of variation in an underlying distribution and those in the directions of relative large-deviation probability that can be used to interrogate the distribution, and expressed as an inner product of vector fields in the Fisher information metric. To give an interpretation to the time invertibility implied by current conservation, we use generating functions to represent importance sampling protocols, and show that the conserved Fisher information is the differential of a sample volume under deformations of the nominal distribution and the likelihood ratio. We derive a pair of dual affine connections particular to Doi-Peliti theory for the way they separate the roles of the nominal distribution and likelihood ratio, distinguishing them from the standard dually-flat connection of Nagaoka and Amari defined on the importance distribution, and show that dual flatness in the affine coordinates of the coherent-state basis captures the special role played by coherent states in Doi-Peliti theory.

Sub-Planck phase-space structure and sensitivity for SU(1,1) compass states

We investigate the sub-Planck-scale structures associated with the SU(1,1) group by establishing that the Planck scale on the hyperbolic plane can be considered as the inverse of the Bargmann index $k$. Our discussion involves SU(1,1) versions of Wigner functions, and the quantum-interference effect is easily visualized through plots of these Wigner functions. Specifically, the superpositions of four Perelomov SU(1,1) coherent states (compass state) yield nearly isotropic sub-Planck structures in phase space scaling as $\frac1{k}$ compared with $\frac1{\sqrt{k}}$ scaling for individual SU(1,1) coherent states and anisotropic quadratically improved scaling for superpositions of two SU(1,1) coherent states (cat state). We show that displacement sensitivity exhibits the same quadratic improvement to scaling.

The Hong–Ou–Mandel experiment: from photon indistinguishability to continuous-variable quantum computing

We extensively discuss the Hong–Ou–Mandel experiment by taking an original phase-space-based perspective. For this, we analyze time and frequency variables as quantum continuous variables in perfect analogy with position and momentum of massive particles or with the electromagnetic field’s quadratures. We discuss how this experiment can be used to directly measure the time-frequency Wigner function and implement logical gates in these variables. We also briefly discuss the quantum/classical aspects of this experiment providing a general expression for intensity correlations that make explicit the differences between a classical Hong–Ou–Mandel-like dip and a quantum one. Throughout the manuscript, we will often focus and refer to a particular system based on AlGaAs waveguides emitting photon pairs via spontaneous parametric down conversion, but our results can be extended to other analogous experimental systems and to various degrees of freedom.Graphical The Hong–Ou–Mandel experiment is a landmark in quantum optics, showing the bunching of indistinguishable bunch. In the present contribution, we give another perspective to this experiment based on a phase space representation of the continuous degrees of freedom of the single photons sent into the input arms of such interferometer. We show that the coincidence detection in the output ports of an Hong– Ou–Mandel interferometer is a direct measurement of the Wigner function of the produced photons in a given region of space, and we discuss how continuous degrees of freedom of single photons can be used in continuous variables quantum protocols, as quantum error correction and metrology. Our results open the perspective of broadening even more the applications of single photon-based quantum information-related protocols.

Extractable work in quantum electromechanics.

Recent experiments have demonstrated the generation of coherent mechanical oscillations in a suspended carbon nanotube, which are driven by an electric current through the device above a certain voltage threshold, in close analogy with a lasing transition. We investigate this phenomenon from the perspective of work extraction, by modeling a nanoelectromechanical device as a quantum flywheel or battery that converts electrical power into stored mechanical energy. We introduce a microscopic model that qualitatively matches the experimental finding, and we compute the Wigner function of the quantum vibrational mode in its nonequilibrium steady state. We characterize the threshold for self-sustained oscillations using two approaches to quantifying work deposition in nonequilibrium quantum thermodynamics: the ergotropy and the nonequilibrium free energy. We find that ergotropy serves as an order parameter for the phonon lasing transition. The framework we employ to describe work extraction is general and widely transferable to other mesoscopic quantum devices.

Energy transitions driven by phase space reflection operators

Phase space reflection operators lie at the core of the Wigner–Weyl representation of density operators and observables. The role of the corresponding classical reflections is known in the construction of semiclassical approximations to Wigner functions of pure eigenstates and their coarsegrained microcanonical superpositions, which are not restricted to classically integrable systems. In their active role as unitary operators, they generate transitions between pairs of eigenstates specified by transition Wigner functions (or cross-Wigner functions): the square modulus of the transition Wigner function at each point in phase space is the transition probability for the reflection through that point.Coarsegraining the initial and final energies provides a transition probability density as a phase space path integral. It is here investigated in the simplest classical approximation involving microcanonical Wigner functions. A reflection operator generates a transition between a pair of energy shells with a probability density given by the integral of the inverse modulus of a Poisson bracket over the intersection of a shell with the reflection of its pair. The singularity of the pair of Wigner functions at their dominant caustics is nicely integrable over their intersection, except for a single degree of freedom. Even though this case is not directly relevant for future investigations of chaotic systems, it is shown here how the improved approximation of the spectral Wigner functions in terms of Airy functions resolves the singularity.

Semiclassical energy transition of driven chaotic systems: phase coherence on scar disks

A trajectory segment in an energy shell, which combines to form a closed curve with a segment in another canonically driven energy shell, adds an oscillatory semiclassical contribution to the smooth classical background of the quantum probability density for a transition between their energies. If either segment is part of a Bohr-quantized periodic orbit of either shell, the centre of its endpoints lies on a scar disk of the spectral Wigner function for a single static energy shell and the contribution to the transition is reinforced by phase coherence. The exact representation of the transition density as an integral over spectral Wigner functions, which was previously derived for the special case where the system undergoes a reflection in phase space, is here generalized to arbitrary unitary transformations. If these are generated continuously by a driving Hamiltonian, there will be a finite lapse in the driving time for the transition to start, until the initially nested shells touch each other and then start to overlap.The stationary phase evaluation of the multidimensional integral for the transition density selects the pair of matching trajectory segments on each shell, which close to form a piecewise smooth compound orbit. Each compound orbit shows up as a fixed point of a product of mappings, that generalize Poincaré maps, on the intersection of the shells. Thus, the closed compound orbits are isolated if the original Hamiltonian is chaotic. The actions of the compound orbits depend on the driving time, or on any other parameter of the transformation of the original eigenstates.

Free spectator nucleons in ultracentral relativistic heavy-ion collisions as a probe of neutron skin

Besides the yield ratio of free spectator neutrons produced in ultracentral $^{96}\mathrm{Zr}$+$^{96}\mathrm{Zr}$ to $^{96}\mathrm{Ru}$+$^{96}\mathrm{Ru}$ collisions [Liu et al., Phys. Lett. B 834, 137441 (2022)], we propose that the yield ratio ${N}_{n}/{N}_{p}$ of free spectator neutrons to protons in a single collision system at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider or the CERN Large Hadron Collider can be a more sensitive probe of the neutron-skin thickness $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}{r}_{\mathrm{np}}$ and the slope parameter $L$ of the symmetry energy. The idea is demonstrated based on the proton and neutron density distributions of colliding nuclei obtained from Skyrme-Hartree-Fock-Bogolyubov calculations, and on a Glauber model that provides information of spectator matter. The final spectator particles are produced from direct emission, clusterization by a minimum spanning tree algorithm or a Wigner function approach, and deexcitation of heavy clusters by gemini. A larger $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}{r}_{\mathrm{np}}$ associated with a larger $L$ value increases the isospin asymmetry of spectator matter and thus leads to a larger ${N}_{n}/{N}_{p}$, especially in ultracentral collisions where the multiplicity of free nucleons are free from the uncertainties of cluster formation and deexcitation. We have further shown that the double ratio of ${N}_{n}/{N}_{p}$ in isobaric collision systems or in collisions by isotopes helps to cancel the detecting efficiency for protons. Effects from nuclear deformation and electromagnetic excitation are studied, and they are found to be subdominant compared to the expected sensitivity to $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}{r}_{\mathrm{np}}$.

Kerr-Nonlinearity-Triggered Nonclassicality of Magnons in a Photon-Magnon Coupling System

Hybrid quantum systems have attracted much attention due to the fact that they combine the advantages of different physical subsystems. Cavity QED (cavity quantum electrodynamics) with magnons is a hybrid quantum systems that combines a YIG (Yttrium Iron Garnet) sphere and a 3D (three-dimensional) rectangular microwave cavity. Based on this hybrid photon-magnon system, we obtain an approximate analytic solution by the RWA (rotating wave approximation) with an ingenious transformation. After skillfully diagonalizing the Hamiltonian, we show that the Kerr-nonlinearity interactions could yield a negativity value of the Wigner function, periodic quadrature squeezing effects, antibunching property, and field nonclassicality in the magnon. Our work may stimulate the study of nonclassicality of photon-magnon coupling systems and its potential applications in quantum information processing.

A Class of Non-Classicality and Non-Gaussianity of Photon Added Three-mode GHZ-type Entangled Coherent States

In this paper, We investigate three-mode photon-added Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) entangled coherent states by repeatedly operating the photon-added operator on the GHZ entangled coherent states. The product of two Laguerre polynomials is demonstrated to be connected to the normalizing constant. The influence of the operation on the non-classical and non-Gaussian behavior of the GHZ entangled coherent states is investigated. Sub-Poissonian statistics, such as Mandel's parameter and the negativity of the Wigner function, show that non-classical properties can enhance GHZ entangled coherent states. Finally, the occurrence of the anti-bunching phenomena in this class of tripartite excited states is studied using the second-order correlation function.

Direct measurement of the Wigner function of atoms in an optical trap

We present a scheme to directly probe the Wigner function of the motional state of a neutral atom confined in an optical trap. The proposed scheme relies on the well-established fact that the Wigner function at a given point (x, p) in phase space is proportional to the expectation value of the parity operator relative to that point. In this work, we show that the expectation value of the parity operator can be directly measured using two auxiliary internal states of the atom: parity-even and parity-odd motional states are mapped to the two internal states of the atom through a Ramsey interferometry scheme. The Wigner function can thus be measured point-by-point in phase space with a single, direct measurement of the internal state population. Numerical simulations show that the scheme is robust in that it applies not only to deep, harmonic potentials but also to shallower, anharmonic traps.

Uniqueness of Noncontextual Models for Stabilizer Subtheories.

We give a complete characterization of the (non)classicality of all stabilizer subtheories. First, we prove that there is a unique nonnegative and diagram-preserving quasiprobability representation of the stabilizer subtheory in all odd dimensions, namely Gross's discrete Wigner function. This representation is equivalent to Spekkens' epistemically restricted toy theory, which is consequently singled out as the unique noncontextual ontological model for the stabilizer subtheory. Strikingly, the principle of noncontextuality is powerful enough (at least in this setting) to single out one particular classical realist interpretation. Our result explains the practical utility of Gross's representation by showing that (in the setting of the stabilizer subtheory) negativity in this particular representation implies generalized contextuality. Since negativity of this particular representation is a necessary resource for universal quantum computation in the state injection model, it follows that generalized contextuality is also a necessary resource for universal quantum computation in this model. In all even dimensions, we prove that there does not exist any nonnegative and diagram-preserving quasiprobability representation of the stabilizer subtheory, and, hence, that the stabilizer subtheory is contextual in all even dimensions.

Cavity Heisenberg-spin-chain quantum battery

We propose a cavity-Heisenberg spin chain (CHS) quantum battery (QB) with the long-range interactions and investigate its charging process. The performance of the CHS QB is substantially improved compared to the Heisenberg spin chain (HS) QB. When the number of spins $N \gg 1$, the quantum advantage $\alpha$ of the QB's maximum charging power can be obtained, which approximately satisfies a superlinear scaling relation $P_{max} \propto N^{\alpha}$. For the CHS QB, $\alpha$ can reach and even exceed $1.5$, while the HS QB can only reach about $\alpha=0.75$. We find that the maximum stored energy of the CHS QB has a critical phenomenon. By analyzing the Wigner function, von Neumann entropy, and logarithmic negativity, we demonstrate that entanglement can be a necessary ingredient for QB to store more energy, but not sufficient.

Nonrelativistic transport theory from vorticity dependent quantum kinetic equation

We study the three-dimensional transport theory of massive spin-1/2 fermions resulting from the vorticity dependent quantum kinetic equation. This quantum kinetic equation has been introduced to take account of noninertial properties of rotating coordinate frames. We show that it is the appropriate relativistic kinetic equation which provides the vorticity dependent semiclassical transport equations of the three-dimensional Wigner function components. We establish the semiclassical kinetic equations of a linearly independent set of components. By means of them, kinetic equations of the chiral scalar distribution functions are derived. They furnish the 3D kinetic theory which permits us to study the vector and axial vector current densities by focusing on the mass corrections to the chiral vortical and separation effects.

Geometric imaginary and quasi-probability functions of multi-component Schrödinger cat state

Superposition is one of unusual features in quantum mechanics. This paper investigates the properties of multi-component Schrödinger cat state, generated by amplitude dispersion. The geometrical imaginary of the multi-component Schrödinger cat state is studied, and the entropy of the geometrical imaginary is proposed. This entropy is inverse proportional to the amplitude of the initial coherent state in the large amplitude regime. Additionally, the superposition of the multi-component cat state can be vividly displayed by the Wigner function and the Pegg–Barnett phase operator.

Selected Concepts of Quantum State Tomography

Quantum state tomography (QST) refers to any method that allows one to reconstruct the accurate representation of a quantum system based on data obtainable from an experiment. In this paper, we concentrate on theoretical methods of quantum tomography, but some significant experimental results are also presented. Due to a considerable body of literature and intensive ongoing research activity in the field of QST, this overview is restricted to presenting selected ideas, methods, and results. First, we discuss tomography of pure states by distinguishing two aspects—complex vector reconstruction and wavefunction measurement. Then, we move on to the Wigner function reconstruction. Finally, the core section of the article is devoted to the stroboscopic tomography, which provides the optimal criteria for state recovery by including the dynamics in the scheme. Throughout the paper, we pay particular attention to photonic tomography, since multiple protocols in quantum optics require well-defined states of light.

Nonclassicality and teleportation fidelity of coherent photon-subtracted two-mode squeezed thermal states

The coherent photon-subtracted two-mode squeezed thermal states (CPS-TMSTS) are theoretically introduced by successively performing coherent photon subtraction operation on the two-mode squeezed thermal states (TMSTS). Based upon the normalization factor which is related to bivariate Hermite polynomials, the nonclassicality and non-Gaussianity are analyzed according to the Wigner function. It is shown that the coherent photon subtraction operation is an effective manner in generating nonclassicality and non-Gaussianity. Furthermore, the fidelity in teleporting coherent states using CPS-TMSTS as entangled resources is quantified both analytically and numerically. It is shown that the quantities of fidelity are clearly larger than that in the original TMSTS, and it can be further improved by modulating control parameters effectively. The CPS-TMSTS, as the ideal entangled resources with higher quantum teleportation fidelity, shall have potential applications in quantum optics tasks.

Distortions produced in optical homodyne tomography

An analysis of the homodyne tomography process that is often used to determine the Wigner functions of quantum optical states is performed to consider the effects of the spatiotemporal degrees of freedom. The homodyne tomography process removes those parts of the input state that are not associated with the mode of the local oscillator by tracing out those degrees of freedom. Using a functional approach to incorporate all the spatiotemporal degrees of freedom, we find that this reduction in the degrees of freedom introduces distortions in the observed Wigner function. The analysis also shows how the homodyne tomography process introduces a scaling caused by the efficiency and a resolution that depends on the strength of the local oscillator. As examples, we consider coherent states, Fock states, and squeezed vacuum states.

Classical entanglement of twisted random light propagating through atmospheric turbulence [Invited

We examine the impact of the atmospheric turbulence on a recently discovered type of classical entanglement of partially coherent beams endowed with a twist phase. We derive a compact analytical expression for the Schmidt number of a bi-orthogonal decomposition of the Wigner function of a twisted Gaussian Schell-model (TGSM) beam propagating through the turbulent atmosphere. We elucidate conditions for a TGSM source to generate a strongly classically entangled paraxial field over a desired propagation distance in the turbulent atmosphere. Our results will find applications to free-space optical communications and motivate further research into classical entanglement with random light.

Generating Sustained Coherence in a Quantum Memory for Retrieval at Times of Quantum Revival

We study the time degradation of quantum information stored in a quantum memory device under a dissipative environment in a parameter range which is experimentally relevant. The quantum memory under consideration is comprised of an optomechanical system with additional Kerr nonlinearity in the optical mode and an anharmonic mechanical oscillator with quadratic nonlinearity. Time degradation is monitored, both in terms of loss of coherence, which is analyzed with the help of Wigner functions, as well as in terms of loss of amplitude of the original state, studied as a function of time. While our time trajectories explore the degree to which the stored information degrades depending upon the variation in values of various parameters involved, we suggest a set of parameters for which the original information can be retrieved without degradation. We identify a very interesting situation where the role played by the nonlinearity is insignificant, and the system behaves as if the information is stored in a linear medium. For this case, the information retrieval is independent of the coherence revival time and can be retrieved at any instant during the time evolution.