Coherent states and the reconstruction of pure spin states

Weigert, S. and Amiet, Jean-Pierre (1999) Coherent states and the reconstruction of pure spin states. Journal of Optics B: Quantum and Semiclassical Optics. L5-L8. ISSN 1464-4266

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Abstract

Coherent states provide an appealing method to reconstruct efficiently the pure state of a quantum mechanical spin s. A Stern-Gerlach apparatus is used to measure (4s + 1) expectations of projection operators on appropriate coherent states in the unknown state. These measurements are compatible with a finite number of states which can be distinguished, in the generic case, by measuring one more probability. In addition, the present technique shows that the zeros of a Husimi distribution do have an operational meaning: they can be identified directly by measurements with a Stem-Gerlach apparatus. This result comes down to saying that it is possible to resolve experimentally structures in quantum phase space which are smaller than (h) over bar.

Item Type:	Article
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© 1999 IOP Publishing Ltd. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Journal of Optics B: Quantum and Semiclassical Optics.
Keywords:	quantum state reconstruction, coherent states, Husimi distribution
Academic Units:	The University of York > Mathematics (York)
Depositing User:	Repository Officer
Date Deposited:	23 Jun 2006
Last Modified:	19 Feb 2013 12:08
Published Version:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1464-4266/1/5/101
Status:	Published
Refereed:	Yes
Related URLs:	http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~slow500/Pub... http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1464-4266/1/5/...
URI:	http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/1375

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