Lecture 22:

Coherent States

Phy851 Fall 2009

 Summary memorize

Properties of the QM SHO:

P2 1 h
H= + m 2 X 2 =
2m 2 m
1 X 1 X
A= + i P A = i P
2 h 2 h

X=

(A + A ) P = i h A A ( )
2 2

1
H = h A A +
2
H n = h (n + 1 / 2) n n

n =
( A ) 0
A n = n n 1 A n = n + 1 n + 1 n!
x2
1/ 2
n (x) = [ 2 n n! ] H n ( x / ) e 2 2

2 x n 1
n (x) = n1 (x) n2 (x)
n n
x2 x2
1/ 2 1/ 2 x
0 (x) = [ ] e 2 2 1 (x) = 2 [ ] 2 e

2 2

h
X = n + 1 / 2 P = n +1/ 2


What are the `most classical states
of the SHO?
In HW6.4, we saw that for a minimum
uncertainty wavepacket with:
osc h
x = osc =
2 Mosc
The uncertainties in position and
momentum would remain constant.

The interesting thing was that this was

true independent of x0 and p0, the initial
expectation values of X and P.

We know that other than the case x0=0

and p0=0, the mean position and
momentum oscillate like a classical
particle

This means that for just the right initial

width, the wave-packet moves around
like a classical particle, but DOESNT
SPREAD at all.
 Coherent States
Coherent states, or as they are sometimes
called Glauber Coherent States are the
eigenstates of the annihilation operator

A = =1
Here can be any complex number
i.e. there is a different coherent state for every
possible choice of
(Roy Glauber, Nobel Prize for Quantum Optics
Theory 2005)
These states are not really any more
coherent then other pure states,
they do maintain their coherence in the
presence of dissipation somewhat more
efficiently

In QM the term coherence is over-used and

often abused, so do not think that it always
has a precise meaning

Glauber Coherent States are very important:

They are the most classical states of the
harmonic oscillator
They describe the quantum state of a laser
Replace the number of quanta with the number
of photons in the laser mode
They describe superfluids and super-conductors
 Series Solution

Let us expand the coherent state onto energy

eigenstates (i.e. number states)

= cn n
n =0

Plug into eigenvalue equation:

A =

A cn n = cn n
n =0 n =0

c
n =0
n n n 1 = cn n
n =0

Hit from left with m|:

m c n n n 1 = cn n
n =0 n =0

c
n =0
n n m n 1 = cn m n
n =0

cm +1 m + 1 = cm
 Continued

cm +1 = cm cm = cm 1
m +1 m
Start from: c 0 = ! ( )
The constant N() will be used at the end for
normalization

few iterations:
Try a

c1 = c0 = ! ( )
1 1
2
c2 = c1 = ! ( )
2 2 1
3

c3 = c2 = ! ( )
3 3 2 1
4
c4 = c2 = ! ( )
4 4 3 2 1
So clearly by induction we have:

n
cn = ! ( )
n!
 Normalization Constant
n
cn = ! ( )
n!
So we have:

n
= ! ( ) n
n= 0 n!

For normalization we require:

1=
m
2 n
= ! ( ) mn
n= 0 m!n!
m= 0
2n
2
= ! ( )
n= 0
n!
2
2
= ! ( ) e

Which gives us:

2
2
n


=e 2
n
! ( ) = e 2
n =0 n!
 Orthogonality
Let us compute the inner-product of two
coherent states:
2 2
+ m

n
=e 2
mn
n =0 m!n!
m =0
2 2 n

+
( )

=e 2
n!
n= 0
2 2
+
+
=e 2

Note that:
2
( )
( )
e =e
( +
2 2
+a + )
=e
2
=

So coherent states are NOT orthogonal

Does this contradict our earlier results
regarding the orthogonality of eigenstates?

Expectation Values of Position
Operator
Lets look at the shape of the coherent
state wavepacket
Let ( x) = x
X = dx ( x) x ( x)
Better to avoid these integrals, instead
lets try using A and A :

X =
2
( A + A )

Recall the definition of |:

A = A =

X =
2
( A + A )

=
2
( +
)

=
2
( + )

X = 2 Re{ }

 Expectation Value of Momentum Operator

We can follow the same procedure for the

momentum:
h
P = i ( A A )
2
2h
=
2i
( A A
)
2h
=
2i
(
)

2h
P = Im{}

X = 2 Re{ }
Not surprisingly, this gives:

1 1
= X + i P
2 h
 Variance in Position

Now let us compute the spread in x:

2 2
X2 =
2
( A+ A )

2 2
=
2
( A + AA
+ A
A + A A )

Put all of the A s on the right and the A s on

the left:
This is called Normal Ordering

2 2
=
2
( A + 2A
A + 1+ A A )

2 2
=
2
(
+ 2 + 1+ 2
)
2
=
2
(( 2
+ ) +1 )
2
X = ( + ) X2 = X
2
+
2 2

2 2 Exactly the same variance as
X = X X = the ground state |n=0
2
 Momentum Variance

Similarly, we have:
h2 2
P 2
= 2 (A A )
2
h2
= 2 ( AA AA A A + A A )
2
Normal ordering gives:
h2
P 2
= 2 ( AA 2A A 1+ A A )
2
h2
= 2 ( AA 2A A 1+ A A )
2

h2
( 2
= 2 2 2 + 1
2
)

h2
( 2
= 2 ( ) 1
2 )
2h
P =
2i
(
)

2 h2 2
P = 2
P P
2 h
P = P + 2 =
2 2
 Minimum Uncertainty States

Let us check what Heisenberg Uncertainty

Relation says about coherent states:
2 2
X = X X =
2
2 h
P = P2 P =
2

h
XP =
2 2

h
XP =
2
So we see that all coherent states (meaning
no matter what complex value takes on)
are Minimum Uncertainty States
This is one of the reasons we say they are
most classical
 Time Evolution

We can easily determine the time evolution of

the coherent states, since we have already
expanded onto the Energy Eigenstates:
Let
(t = 0) = 0
Thus we have:

2


0n
(0) = e 2
n
n =0 n!
2


0n i ( n +1/ 2 )t
(t ) = e 2
e n
n =0 n!
2

i t / 2

0n i n t
=e e2
e n
n =0 n!
2
i t n


( e )
0

Let
=e it / 2
e 2
n!
n
n= 0

(t ) = 0 e i t

By this we mean it remains in a

(t ) = (t ) coherent state, but the value of
the parameter changes in
time
 Why most classical?

What we have learned:

Coherent states remain coherent states as time
evolves, but the parameter changes in time
as
(t ) = 0 e i t

This means they remain a minimum

uncertainty state at all time
The momentum and position variances are the
same as the n=0 Energy eigenstate

Recall that:
X = 2 Re{ }
2h
P = Im{}


So we can see that:
x0 = (t ) X (t )
1 x
0 = 0 + i p0 p0 = (t ) P (t )
2 h
We already know that <X> and <P> behave as
classical particle in the Harmonic Oscillator, for
any initial state.
p0
x(t ) = x0 cos(t ) + sin(t ) p (t ) = p0 cos(t ) x0 sin(t )

 Conclusions

The Coherent State wavefunction looks

exactly like ground state, but shifted in
momentum and position. It then moves as a
classical particle, while keeping its shape
fixed.
Note: the coherent state is also called a
Displaced Ground State