Wigner Function of Observed Quantum Systems

TL;DR

This paper derives closed-form expressions for the Wigner function of various quantum states, analyzes conditions for negativity, and explores how physical detectors influence the observation of quantum features in radiation fields.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive closed-form formulas for the Wigner function of multiple quantum states and examines the impact of realistic detection on observing quantum properties.

Findings

Closed-form Wigner functions for squeezed, coherent, and thermal states.

Conditions for negative Wigner function in resonance fluorescence.

Detection effects can reveal quantumness even with positive Wigner functions.

Abstract

The Wigner function was introduced as an attempt to describe quantum-mechanical fields with the tools inherited from classical statistical mechanics. In particular, it is widely used to describe the properties of radiation fields. In fact, a useful way to distinguish between classical and nonclassical states of light is to ask whether their Wigner function has a Gaussian profile or not, respectively. In this paper, we use the basis of Fock states to provide the closed-form expression for the Wigner function of an arbitrary quantum state. Thus, we provide the general expression for the Wigner function of a squeezed Fock, coherent and thermal states, with an arbitrary squeezing parameter. Then, we consider the most fundamental quantum system, Resonance Fluorescence, and obtain closed-form expressions for its Wigner function under various excitation regimes. With them, we discuss the conditions for obtaining a negative-valued Wigner function and the relation it has with population inversion. Finally, we address the problem of the observation of the radiation field, introducing physical detectors into the description of the emission. Notably, we show how to expose the quantumness of a radiation field that has been observed with a detector with finite spectral resolution, even if the observed Wigner function is completely positive.