23.03.2013 Views

Non-dispersive wave packets in periodically driven quantum systems

Non-dispersive wave packets in periodically driven quantum systems

Non-dispersive wave packets in periodically driven quantum systems

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

422 A. Buchleitner et al. / Physics Reports 368 (2002) 409–547<br />

∆z ∆p (hbar unit)<br />

100<br />

10<br />

1<br />

Heisenberg limit<br />

Revival<br />

0 10 20<br />

Time (Kepler periods)<br />

Fig. 4. Time evolution of the uncerta<strong>in</strong>ty product z p (<strong>in</strong> units of ˝) of the <strong>wave</strong> packet shown <strong>in</strong> Fig. 3. Start<strong>in</strong>g<br />

out from m<strong>in</strong>imum uncerta<strong>in</strong>ty, z p ˝=2 (the Heisenberg limit, Eq. (1)), the <strong>wave</strong> packet exhibits some transient<br />

spread<strong>in</strong>g on the time-scale of a Kepler period Trecurrence, thus re ect<strong>in</strong>g the classical motion (compare top left of Fig. 3),<br />

collapses on a time-scale of few Kepler cycles (manifest <strong>in</strong> the damp<strong>in</strong>g of the oscillations of z p dur<strong>in</strong>g the rst ve<br />

classical periods), shows a fractional revival around t 10 × Trecurrence, and a full revival at t 20 × Trecurrence. Note that,<br />

nontheless, even at the full revival the contrast of the oscillations of the uncerta<strong>in</strong>ty product is reduced as compared to<br />

the <strong>in</strong>itial stage of the evolution, as a consequence of higher-order corrections which are neglected <strong>in</strong> Eq. (15).<br />

Fig. 5. Time evolution of a <strong>wave</strong> packet launched along a circular Kepler trajectory, with the same Gaussian weights cn,<br />

Eq. (11), as employed for the one-dimensional example displayed <strong>in</strong> Fig. 3, i.e., centered around the pr<strong>in</strong>cipal <strong>quantum</strong><br />

number n0 = 60. S<strong>in</strong>ce the relative phases accumulated dur<strong>in</strong>g the time evolution only depend on n0—see Eq. (13)—we<br />

observe precisely the same behavior as <strong>in</strong> the one-dimensional case: classical propagation at short times (top), followed<br />

by spread<strong>in</strong>g and collapse (middle), and revival (bottom). The snapshots of the <strong>wave</strong> function are taken at times (<strong>in</strong> units<br />

of Trecurrence) t = 0 (top left), t =0:5 (top right), t = 1 (middle left), t =12:5 (middle right), and t =19:45 (bottom). The<br />

cube size is 10 000 Bohr radii, centered on the nucleus (marked with a cross). The radius of the circular <strong>wave</strong>-packet<br />

trajectory equals approx. 3600 Bohr radii.<br />

Surpris<strong>in</strong>gly, it is classical mechanics which provides us with a possible solution. Indeed, as<br />

discussed above, a <strong>quantum</strong> <strong>wave</strong> packet spreads exactly as the correspond<strong>in</strong>g swarm of classical<br />

particles. Hence, dispersion can be overcome if all classical trajectories behave similarly <strong>in</strong>

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!