Anomalous quantum correlations in the motion of a trapped ion

TL;DR

This paper explores nonclassical quantum effects in a trapped ion system, revealing anomalous correlations beyond traditional squeezing and sub-Poisson statistics, and demonstrates how to derive these correlations from experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of anomalous quantum correlations in trapped ion motion and shows how to detect them from measurements, extending understanding of quantum phenomena in such systems.

Findings

Anomalous quantum correlations exist beyond squeezing and sub-Poisson statistics.

These correlations can be verified even when traditional nonclassical effects are absent.

Method to derive anomalous correlations from experimental data is demonstrated.

Abstract

In a previous paper (Krumm and Vogel 2018 Phys. Rev. A 97, 043806) we presented a method to solve the nonlinear Jaynes-Cummings dynamics, describing the quantized motion of a trapped ion exactly, including detuning. Here we investigate this model with respect to nonclassical effects, such as squeezing and sub-Poisson statistics. We show that for the versatile model under study there exist quantum phenomena beyond squeezing and sub-Poisson statistics, such as anomalous quantum correlations of two non-commuting observables. In particular, it is shown that for the excitation of the zeroth sideband neither squeezing nor sub-Poisson statistics do occur, but anomalous correlations can be verified. Furthermore, it is shown how these anomalous correlation functions can be derived from measured data.