PHYSICAL REVIEW A 70, 042308 (2004)

Kraus representation of a damped harmonic oscillator and its application

Yu-xi Liu,1,2 Șahin K. Özdemir,1,3,4 Adam Miranowicz,1,3,5 and Nobuyuki Imoto1,3,4,6
1
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), Shonan Village, Hayama, Kanagawa 240-0193, Japan
2
Frontier Research System, The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), Wako-shi 351-0198, Japan
3
SORST Research Team for Interacting Career Electronics, Hayama, Kanagawa 240-0193, Japan
4
CREST Research Team for Photonic Quantum Information, Hayama, Kanagawa 240-0193, Japan
5
Nonlinear Optics Division, Physics Institute, Adam Mickiewicz University, 61-614 Poznań, Poland
6
NTT Basic Research Laboratories, NTT Corporation, 3-1 Morinosato Wakamiya, Atsugi, Kanagawa 243-0198, Japan
(Received 18 March 2004; published 12 October 2004)

By definition, the Kraus representation of a harmonic oscillator suffering from the environment effect,
modeled as the amplitude damping or the phase damping, is directly given by a simple operator algebra
solution. As examples and applications, we first give a Kraus representation of a single qubit whose compu-
tational basis states are defined as bosonic vacuum and single particle number states. We further discuss the
environment effect on qubits whose computational basis states are defined as the bosonic odd and even
coherent states. The environment effects on entangled qubits defined by two different kinds of computational
basis are compared with the use of fidelity.

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.70.042308 PACS number(s): 03.67.Pp, 03.67.Lx, 03.65.Yz, 03.65.Ta

I. INTRODUCTION elements E␮共E␮† 兲 satisfy the completeness relation 兺␮E␮† E␮

Since the fast quantum algorithms were developed, the
quantum information and computation have aroused great
enthusiasm among physicists because of their potential ap-
plications. The basic unit of the classical information is a bit,
which can only have a choice between two possible classical
states denoted by 0 or 1. The information carriers in the
quantum communication and computation are called quan-
tum bits or qubits. The main difference between the qubit
and the classical bit is that the qubit is defined as a quantum
superposition of two orthogonal quantum states usually writ-
ten as 兩0典 and 兩1典 called as the computational basis states. It
means that the qubit has an infinite number of choices of the
states ␣兩0典 + ␤兩1典 with the condition 兩␣兩2 + 兩␤兩2 = 1. It is obvi-
ous that the superposition principle allows application of
quantum states to simultaneously represent many different
numbers, this is called the quantum parallelism, which en-
ables the quantum computation to solve some problems, such
as factorization, intractable on a classical computer.
However, a pure quantum superposition state is very frag-
ile. A quantum system cannot be isolated from the environ-
ment, it is always open and interacts with the uncontrollable
environment. This unwanted interaction induces entangle-
ment between the quantum system and the environment such
that the pure superposition state is destroyed, which results
in an inevitable noise in the quantum computation and infor-
mation processing. Unlike a closed system, whose final state
␳⬘ can be obtained by a unitary transformation U of the
initial state ␳ as ␳⬘ = U␳U†, the final state of an open system
cannot be described by a unitary transformation of the initial
state. Quantum operation formalism is usually used to de-
scribe the behavior of an open quantum system in which the
final state ␳⬘ and the initial state ␳ can be related by a quan-
tum operation E as ␳⬘ = E共␳兲. In general, the quantum opera-
tion E on the state ␳ can be described by the Kraus operator-
sum formalism [1,2] as E共␳兲 = 兺␮E␮␳E␮† where the operation
= I. Operators E␮ act on the Hilbert space HS of the system.
They can be expressed as E␮ = 具e␮兩Ut兩e0典 by the total unitary
operator Ut of the system and the environment with an or-
thonormal basis 兩e␮典 for the Hilbert space HE and the initial
state ␳E = 兩e0典具e0兩 of the environment. This elegant represen-
tation is extensively applied to describe the quantum infor-
mation processing [3,4].
In practice, the environment effect on the quantum system
is a more complicated problem. There are two ideal models
of noise called the amplitude and phase damping, which can
capture many important features of the noise [2]. They are
applied in many concrete discussions to model noise of the
quantum information processing, e.g., Ref. [5]. As a system,
a single-mode harmonic oscillator is the simplest and most
ideal model to represent a single mode light field, vibration
phonon mode, or excitonic wave. For convenience, we refer
this harmonic oscillator to a single-mode light field in this
paper. A study of a single harmonic oscillator suffering from
damping is expected to give us an easier grasp of the nature
of damping. The Kraus representation of a harmonic oscilla-
tor suffering from the above two kinds of noise has been
given by Chuang et al., simply modeling environment as a
single mode oscillator [2,7]. However generally speaking,
the environment is usually described as a system of multi-
mode oscillators for both the phase damping and amplitude
damping. Milburn et al. have also given the Kraus represen-
tation of a harmonic oscillator suffering from the amplitude
damping by modeling the environment as a system of the
multimode oscillators using the quantum measurement
theory [8]. Although there are many studies about Kraus rep-
resentation, e.g., in Refs. [1,5,6], to the best of our knowl-
edge, there is no proof of the Kraus representation for a
harmonic oscillator suffering from amplitude damping or
phase damping by directly using its definition when the en-
vironment is modeled as a system of multimode oscillators.
In view of the importance of the Kraus representation in the

1050-2947/2004/70(4)/042308(8)/$22.50 70 042308-1 ©2004 The American Physical Society

LIU et al. PHYSICAL REVIEW A 70, 042308 (2004)

quantum information, we would like to revisit this question
in this paper. We will extend the proof of Chuang et al., that
is, we will give the Kraus representation using a simple op-
erator algebra method by modeling the system as a single
mode oscillator and the environment as multimode oscilla-
tors according to the definition of the Kraus representation.
Our paper is organized as follows. In Sec. II, we give the
Kraus representation for the amplitude damping case, then
we discuss the effect of the environment on a qubit whose
computational basis is defined by odd and even coherent
that the environment is at zero temperature, so its initial state
is in the vacuum state 兩兵0其典 ⬅ ⌸i 丢 兩0i典 = 兩 ¯ 0 ¯ 典 of multi-
mode harmonic oscillators. The Hilbert space HE can be de-
composed into a direct sum of many orthogonal subspaces
⬁
Hk as HE = 丣 k=0 Hk with an orthonormal basis 兵兩兵ki其典其, which
⬁
satisfies the condition 兺i=1 ki = k for each subspace Hk. So we
can regroup the summation in Eq. (4) and define the quantum
operation element Ak as follows:
k

states with decay of at most one particle, we compare this Ak共t兲 = 兺

result with that of a qubit defined by vacuum and single
photon number states. In Sec. III, we give the Kraus repre-
sentation for the phase damping case, and explain its effect.
Similar to the analysis in Sec. II, we also compare the effect
of the phase damping on the entangled qubit defined by dif-
ferent states. Finally, we give our conclusions in Sec. IV.
II. AMPLITUDE DAMPING
A. Kraus representation
One of the most important reasons for the quantum state
change is the energy dissipation of the system induced by the
environment. This energy dissipation can be characterized by
an amplitude damping model. Ideally we can model the sys-
tem, for example, a single mode cavity field, as a harmonic
oscillator, which is coupled to the environment modeled as
multimode oscillators. Then the whole Hamiltonian of the
system and the environment can be written as
H = ប ␻ b †b + ប 兺i ␻ib†i bi + ប 兺i gi共b†bi + bb†i 兲
兵k 其
⬘具兵ki其兩U共t兲兩兵0其典 共5兲
i
which acts on the Hilbert space HS of the system. Hereafter,
兺⬘ stands for summation under the condition 兺iki = k ; Ak共t兲
means that there are k bosonic particles absorbed by the en-
vironment through the evolution over a finite time t, and
A†k 共t兲 denotes the Hermitian conjugate of Ak共t兲. Then Eq. (4)
can be rewritten by virtue of the operation elements Ak共t兲 and
its Hermitian conjugate A†k 共t兲 as a concise form called the
Kraus representation [2]
⬁
␳S共t兲 = 兺 Ak共t兲␳S共0兲A†k 共t兲. 共6兲
k=0
It is very easy to check that the elements Ak共t兲 satisfy the
relation 兺kA†k 共t兲Ak共t兲 = I. In order to further give the solution
of the operator Ak共t兲, we first use the number state 兩n典 of the
system to define an orthonormal basis 兵兩n典其 of the Hilbert
space HS of the system. Then the matrix representation of the
共1兲 operator Ak共t兲 can be written as

under the rotating wave approximation, where b共b†兲 is the Ak共t兲 = 兺 k

Am,n 共t兲兩m典具n兩 共7兲
annihilation (creation) operator of the harmonic oscillator of m,n
frequency ␻, and bi共b†i 兲 is the annihilation (creation) operator
of the ith mode of the environment with frequency ␻i , gi is with the matrix element
coupling constant between the system and the ith mode of k
the environment. We assume that the initial state of the
whole system is
k
Am,n 共t兲 = 兺
兵k 其
⬘具m兩具兵ki其兩U共t兲兩兵0其典兩n典. 共8兲
i
␳共0兲 = ␳S共0兲 丢 ␳E共0兲, 共2兲
Because the state U共t兲兩兵0其典兩n典 can be written as U共t兲
where ␳S共0兲 and ␳E共0兲 denote the initial states of the system ⫻共b†兲n / 冑n!兩兵0其典兩0典 = 关b†共−t兲兴n / 冑n!兩兵0其典兩0典. Using the
and environment respectively. With the time evolution, the Wigner-Weisskopf approximation [9], the operator b 共t兲 can
†
initial state evolves into be obtained by solving the Heisenberg operator equation of
␳共t兲 = U共t兲␳S共0兲 丢 ␳E共0兲U†共t兲 共3兲 motion for Hamiltonian (1) as

with U = exp共−iHt / ប兲. Since we are only interested in the ⬁

time evolution of the system, we perform a partial trace over b 共t兲 = u共t兲b 共0兲 +
† †
兺
i=1
vi共t兲b†i 共0兲, 共9兲
the environment and find the reduced density operator of the
system as
where u共t兲 = exp(−共␥ / 2兲t + i␻t) and the Lamb shift has been
␳S共t兲 = TrE兵U共t兲␳S共0兲 丢 ␳E共0兲U†共t兲其 neglected. The damping rate ␥ is defined as ␥
= 2␲⑀共␻兲兩g共␻兲兩2 with a spectrum density ⑀共␻兲 of the environ-
= 兺
兵k 其
具兵ki其兩U共t兲␳S共0兲 丢 ␳E共0兲U†共t兲兩兵ki其典, 共4兲 ment. The details of the time dependent parameter vi共t兲 can
i
be found in [9,10]. We can use Eq. (9) to expand U共t兲兩兵0其典兩n典
where 兵兩兵ki其典 ⬅ 兩k1 ¯ ki ¯ 典 = ⌸i 丢 兩ki典其 is an orthonormal basis as many terms characterized by the particle number k lost
of the Hilbert space HE for the environment, and ki denotes from the system, and each term with fixed k can be expressed
that there are ki bosonic particles in the ith mode. We assume as

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KRAUS REPRESENTATION OF A DAMPED HARMONIC … PHYSICAL REVIEW A 70, 042308 (2004)

关u 共t兲兴
* n−k
冑 冉冊
1 n
k! k
兺 兺⬘
⬁ k
k!
i ¯⫽i ¯⫽i =0 兵l 其 l1 ! ¯ lk!
1 q k i
coherent states [11] or vacuum and bosonic single particle
number states, are accessible in experiments. For brevity, we
refer to qubits defined via the even and odd coherent states as
k the (Schrödinger) cat-state qubits by contrast to the Fock-
⫻ 兿 关vi* 共t兲bi† 共0兲兴l 兩兵0其典兩n − k典.
q=1
q q
q 共10兲 state qubits defined by vacuum and single-photon states in
the following expressions. It has been shown that the bit flip
errors caused by a single decay event, which results from the
By using Eqs. (7)–(10), we can obtain the product of the
k spontaneous emissions, are more easily corrected by a stan-
matrix elements of Am,n and its Hermitian conjugate as
dard error correction circuit for the logical qubit defined by
k
Am,n 共Akm,n兲† = 冉冊 n
k
关␩共t兲兴共n−k兲关1 − ␩共t兲兴k␦m,n−k 共11兲
the bosonic even and odd coherent states [12] than that de-
fined by the bosonic vacuum and single particle number
states. We know that the entangled qubit takes an important
with ␩共t兲 = e−␥t, where we have used the completeness of the role in the quantum information processing. So in the follow-
subspace with fixed k ing, we will study the effect of the environment on entangled
k
qubits defined by the above two kinds of computational basis
states when they are subject to at most one decay event
兺
兵k 其
⬘兩兵ki其典具兵ki其兩 = 1, 共12兲 caused by the amplitude damping. Let 兩␣典 be a bosonic co-
i
herent state (we denote this single bosonic mode as a single-
and condition 兩u共t兲兩2 + 兺i兩vi共t兲兩2 = 1, which comes from the mode light field, but it can be generalized to any bosonic
commutation relation 关b共t兲 , b†共t兲兴 = 1. It is clear that the non- mode, for example, excitonic mode, vibrational mode of trap
zero matrix element Am,nk
共t兲 must satisfy the relation n − m ions and so on). In general, if a single-mode light field,
= k, and all contributions to the elements of the quantum which is initially in the coherent state 兩␣典, suffers from am-
operation Ak共t兲 come from the states 兩n典 satisfying the con- plitude damping, the Kraus operation element (13) changes it
dition n 艌 k. Then we can take each matrix element Am,n k
共t兲 as as follows:

共␣冑1 − ␩兲k
a real number and finally obtain [7,8]
兩冑␩␣典,
冑冉 冊
Ak兩␣典 = e−共1−␩兲兩␣兩
2/2
共16兲
⬁
n 冑k!
Ak共t兲 = 兺 k
关␩共t兲兴共n−k兲/2关1 − ␩共t兲兴k/2兩n − k典具n兩.
n=k and the normalized state, which is denoted by N关Ak兩␣典兴, can
共13兲 be written as
It is not difficult to prove that 兺kA†k 共t兲Ak共t兲 = 1.
In Eq. (13), N关Ak兩␣典兴 = 兩冑␩␣典, 共17兲
one finds that (1 − ␩共t兲)k/2 is the probability that the system
which means that the coherent state remains coherent under
loses k particles up to time t, or the probability that the state
the amplitude damping, but its amplitude ␣ is reduced to
兩n典 is undecayed corresponds to 关␩共t兲兴共n−k兲/2 for k particle 冑␩␣ due to the interaction with the environment.
decay process up to time t. For the convenience, we will
Now we define a logical zero-qubit state 兩0典L and a logical
write ␩共t兲 as ␩ in the following expressions.
one-qubit state 兩1典L using the even and odd coherent states as
Using a single qubit ␳ defined by the bosonic number
state 兵兩0典 , 兩1典其 as the computational basis states, we can sim- 兩0典L = N+共兩␣典 + 兩− ␣典兲
ply demonstrate how to give its Kraus representation when it
suffers from the amplitude damping. By Eq. (13), it is very 兩1典L = N−共兩␣典 − 兩− ␣典兲 共18兲
easy to find that the quantum operation on qubit ␳ includes 2
only two operational elements A0 and A1, that is with N± = 共2 ± 2e−2兩␣兩 兲−1/2 and subscript L denotes the logical
state. If we know that the system loses at most one photon
E共␳兲 = A0␳A†0 + A1␳A†1 共14兲 with the time evolution but we do not have the detailed in-
with formation on the lost photons. Then, we only need to calcu-
late two Kraus operators A0 and A1 corresponding to no-
A0共t兲 = 兩0典具0兩 + 冑␩兩1典具1兩, 共15a兲 photon and single-photon decay events, respectively.
No-photon decay event changes the logical qubits 兩0典L and
A1共t兲 = 冑1 − ␩兩0典具1兩, 共15b兲 兩1典L as follows:

where 冑1 − ␩ is the probability that the system lose one par-
ticle up to time t.
B. Effect of amplitude damping on qubits
In this subsection, we will demonstrate an application of
the above conclusions about the Kraus representation. We
know that two kinds of logical qubits, whose computational
basis states are defined by using the bosonic even and odd
兩0̃典 = N关A0兩0典L兴 = N+⬘ 共兩冑␩␣典 + 兩− 冑␩␣典兲, 共19兲
兩1̃典 = N关A0兩1典L兴 = N−⬘ 共兩冑␩␣典 − 兩− 冑␩␣典兲, 共20兲
where 兩0̃典 and 兩1̃典 are normalized states of A0兩0典L and A0兩1典L
with the normalized constants N±⬘ = 兵2 ± 2 exp共−2␩兩␣兩2兲其−1/2.
It is obvious that no-photon decay event reduces only the
intensity of the logical qubit, leaving the even and odd prop-

042308-3
LIU et al. PHYSICAL REVIEW A 70, 042308 (2004)

erties of the logical qubit states unchanged. A simple analysis 3

兺
再 冉
of how the noisy channel affects the original quantum state Ei␳共0兲E†i
N−⬘2

再 冎
can be made by calculating the fidelity defined as the average i=0
␳共t兲 = = Ñ 2p兩␣兩2 兩0̃0̃典具0̃0̃兩
value of the final reduced density matrix ␳共t兲 with initial pure 3 N+⬘2
state 兩␺典, that is f共t兲 = 具␺兩␳兩␺典. The fidelity f i共t兲 of the qubit
state (18) with no-photon decay event can be obtained as
Tr 兺
i=0
Ei␳共0兲E†i

f i共t兲 =
关e
冑␩兩␣兩2
+ 共− 1兲ie−
冑␩兩␣兩2 2
兴
共21兲 +
N+⬘2
N−⬘2
兩1̃1̃典具1̃1̃兩 + 兩0̃0̃典具1̃1̃兩 + 兩1̃1̃典具0̃0̃兩 冊
冎
兩␣兩2 i −兩␣兩2 ␩兩␣兩2 i −␩兩␣兩2
关e + 共− 1兲 e 兴关e + 共− 1兲 e 兴
with i = 0, 1, which denotes zero-qubit state or one-qubit + 共1 + p2兩␣兩4兲共兩0̃1̃典 + 兩1̃0̃典兲共具0̃1̃兩 + 具1̃0̃兩兲 共26兲
state. But for a single-photon decay event, we can have the
following: with p = 1 − ␩ and the normalized constant

共1 + p兩␣兩2兲2 − e−4␩兩␣兩 共1 − p兩␣兩2兲2

2
兩1̃典 = N关A1兩0典L兴, 兩0̃典 = N关A1兩1典L兴. 共22兲
Ñ−1 = 2 . 共27兲
1 − e−4␩兩␣兩
2
We find that the single photon decay event flips an even
coherent state to an odd coherent state with the reduction of The fidelity F1共t兲 of the entangled qubit 兩⌿典 with at most one
the amplitude and vice versa. It is very easy to prove that photon decay for each mode can be calculated as

兩1̃典 = N关A共2m+1兲兩0典L兴 = N关A2m兩1典L兴, 共23兲 F1共t兲 = 具⌿兩␳共t兲兩⌿典

共1 + 兩␣兩4 p2兲csch共2兩␣兩2兲sinh2共2冑␩兩␣兩2兲
= .
兩0̃典 = N关A共2m+1兲兩1典L兴 = N关A2m兩0典L兴 共24兲 2兩␣兩2 p cosh共2兩␣兩2␩兲 + 共1 + 兩␣兩4 p2兲sinh共2兩␣兩2␩兲
共28兲
with m = 0 , 1 , 2 , ¯, which means that the even number of
photons decay event only reduces the intensity of the logical If each mode can dissipate any number of photons, but we
signal, and keeps the even and odd properties of the logical know nothing about the details of dissipation, then we must
state unchanged; but the odd number of photons decay event sum up all possible environment measurements on the sys-
flips a qubit causing error and reduces the intensity of the tem, obtaining the reduced matrix operator of the system as
qubit signal. If the coherent amplitude of the cat states is
infinitely large, that is, 兩␣兩 → ⬁, then we find that the fidelity 1
␳⬘共t兲 = 兵兩␤典兩␤典具␤兩具␤兩 + 兩− ␤典兩− ␤典具− ␤兩具− ␤兩其
f i共t兲 ⬇ 1 with a larger ␩, so under this condition, we can say 2 − 2e−4兩␣兩
2

that the no-photon decay event essentially leaves the logical

qubit states unchanged and the single-photon decay event M
− 2 兵兩− ␤典兩− ␤典具␤兩具␤兩 + 兩␤典兩␤典具− ␤兩具− ␤兩其
causes a qubit flip error. It means that the use of the even and 2 − 2e−4兩␣兩
odd coherent states as logical qubit states 兩0典L and 兩1典L is
better than the use of the vacuum state 兩0典 and single-photon 共29兲
state 兩1典 as logical qubit states in the amplitude damping with M = e−4兩␣兩 共1−e
2 −␥t
兲
and 兩␤典 = 兩u共t兲␣典. Then we obtain the
channel with a few photons loss. Because the single-photon
fidelity F2共t兲 as
decay event changes vacuum and single-photon states to
A1兩0典 = 0 and A1兩1典 = 兩0典, the single-photon decay event is an F2共t兲 = cosh共2兩␣兩2 p兲csch2共2兩␣兩2兲sinh2共2冑␩兩␣兩2兲. 共30兲
irreversible process for vacuum and single-photon states.
An entangled pair of qubits, whose computational basis We can find that the logical state 兩0典L and 兩1典L in Eq. (25) can
states are defined by the even and odd coherent states (18), be reduced to the vacuum state 兩0典 and single-photon state
can be written as 兩1典, respectively in the limit of the weak light field 兩␣兩 → 0. It
is easy to check that
1
兩⌿典 =
冑2 兵兩0典L兩1典L + 兩1典L兩0典L其. 共25兲 A0兩0典 = 兩0典, A0兩1典 = 冑␩兩1典, 共31兲

On the basis of the above discussions, we can study the
effect of environments on entangled qubits when each mode
loses at most one photon. For simplicity, two modes are as-
sumed to suffer from effect of two same independent envi-
ronments. There is no direct interaction between two sys-
tems. After the environment performs the following four
measurements 兵E0 = A0 丢 A0 , E1 = A0 丢 A1 , E2 = A1 丢 A0 , E3
= A1 丢 A1其 with A0 an A1 determined by Eq. (13), the en-
tangled qubit (25) becomes the following mixed state
A1兩0典 = 0, A1兩1典 = 冑1 − ␩兩0典 共32兲
which means that the 兩0典 qubit state is invariant when no-
photon decay event happens, but the amplitude of the 兩1典
qubit state is reduced to 冑␩. If the system leaks one photon,
then the 兩0典 qubit state vanishes and the 兩1典 qubit state returns
to the 兩0典 with the probability 冑1 − ␩. The entangled qubit,
whose computational basis states are defined by vacuum and
single-photon states, can be written as

042308-4
KRAUS REPRESENTATION OF A DAMPED HARMONIC … PHYSICAL REVIEW A 70, 042308 (2004)

be very small as presented in Fig. 1 for 兩␣兩 = 2, 4. In the

long-time limit, we can expand the difference in a series of ␩
resulting in
2兩␣兩2
F1共t兲 − F2共t兲 = 关1 + 兩␣兩4 − 2兩␣兩2coth共2兩␣兩2兲兴␩
sinh共2兩␣兩2兲
+ O兵␩2其 共38兲
which is negative only for the intensity 兩␣兩2 ⬍ 1.1997…. For
higher intensity, we find that 兩1̃典 ⬇ 兩1典L and 兩0̃典 ⬇ 兩0典L, and p
= 1 − ␩ will become small with the time evolution, then the
fidelity F1共t兲 will become greater than the fidelity F2共t兲 in
some regimes. But in the low intensity limit we find that
兩1̃典 ⬇ 兩0典 and 兩0̃典 ⬇ 兩0典, then the fidelity F1共t兲 will become less
than F2共t兲.

FIG. 1. Difference of fidelities: F1 − ␩ (solid curves), given by III. PHASE DAMPING

Eqs. (28) and (34), and F2 − ␩ (dashed curves), given by Eqs. (30)
A. Kraus representation
and (34), versus scaled time ␥t for different values of amplitude ␣.
A state can be a superposition of different states, which is
1 one of the main characteristics of the quantum mechanics.
兩⌿典 =
冑2 共兩0典兩1典 + 兩1典兩0典兲 共33兲 The relative phase and amplitude of the superposed state
determines the properties of the whole state. If the relative
which can be obtained by setting 兩␣兩 → 0 in Eq. (25). We can phases of the superposed states randomly change with the
use the same step to obtain the fidelity F1⬘共t兲 corresponding to time evolution, then the coherence of the quantum state will
Eq. (33) when both modes are subject to the amplitude be destroyed even if the eigenvalue of the quantum system
damping as will be changed. This kind of quantum noise process is
called the phase damping. We can have the Hamiltonian of a
F1⬘共t兲 = ␩共t兲, 共34兲 harmonic oscillator suffering from the phase damping as
where we assume that the damping is the same for the two
modes. When the weak light field limit 兩␣兩 → 0 is taken, we
H = ប ␻ b †b + ប 兺i ␻ib†i bi + ប 兺i ␹ib†b共bi + b†i 兲, 共39兲
find that Eq. (28) and Eq. (30) can be written as
where b共b†兲 is the annihilation (creation) operator of the har-
␩ monic oscillator with frequency ␻; and bi共b†i 兲 is the annihi-
F1共t兲 = ␩ + 共1 − 5␩ + 3␩2 + ␩3兲兩␣兩4 + O共兩␣兩8兲,
3 lation (creation) operator of the ith mode of the environment
with frequency ␻i. ␹i is a coupling constant between the
2 system and the ith mode of the environment. We can solve
F2共t兲 = ␩ + ␩共1 − 4␩ + 3␩2兲兩␣兩4 + O共兩␣兩8兲. 共35兲 the Heisenberg operator equation of motion, and very easily
3
obtain the solution of the system operator b共t兲 as
It is clear that all the higher order terms of 兩␣兩2 can be ne-
glected in the limit 兩␣兩 → 0, so Eq. (28) and Eq. (30) can 关
b共t兲 = b共0兲exp − i␻t − i 兺 ␹ jt关b†j 共t兲 + b j共t兲兴兴 , 共40兲
return to F1⬘共t兲 in the weak field approximation. By recalcu-
lating the difference b j共t兲 = b j共0兲exp关− i␻ jt − i␹ jtb†b兴. 共41兲
1 We also assume that the system-environment is initially in a
F1共t兲 − F2共t兲 = − ␩共1 − ␩兲3兩␣兩4 + O共兩␣兩8兲, 共36兲
3 product state ␳共0兲 = ␳S共0兲 丢 ␳E共0兲. We apply the time-
dependent unitary operator U共t兲 = e−iHt/ប with the Hamil-
it is clear that fidelity F1共t兲 is less than F2共t兲 in the low-
tonian H determined by Eq. (39) to the state 兩兵0其典兩m典 as fol-
intensity regime. These predictions are confirmed by the ex-
lows:
act evolution of fidelities depicted in Fig. 1 for 兩␣兩 艋 1. To
compare the fidelities in the short-time evolution, we expand 关b†共− t兲兴m
the difference of Eqs. (28) and (30) in power series in ⌫t as U共t兲兩兵0其典兩m典 = 兩兵0其典兩0典
冑m!
follows:
† b†m共0兲
2 = e兵−im␻t−i兺␹ jmt关b j 共−t兲+b j共−t兲兴其 兩兵0其典兩0典.
F1共t兲 − F2共t兲 = − 兩␣兩6coth共2兩␣兩2兲共␥t兲3 + O兵共␥t兲4其 共37兲
3
冑m!
共42兲
which shows that F1共t兲 is less than F2共t兲 for arbitrary inten-
sities in the short-time regime although the difference might By assuming that the environment scatters off the quantum

042308-5
LIU et al. PHYSICAL REVIEW A 70, 042308 (2004)

system randomly into the states 兵兩k1 ¯ ki ¯ 典其 with the total scattered by the system. We find that the probability of a
particle number k, then the Kraus operators can be defined as photon from the system being scattered by the environment
follows: is 冑1 − exp兵−␶2其.
k
Pk共t兲 = 兺
兵k 其
⬘具兵ki其兩U共t兲兩兵0其典 共43兲 B. Phase damping effect on qubits
i
In this subsection, we will further discuss the phase damp-
with its Hermitian conjugate P†k . Using Eq. (42) and Eq. ing effect on a qubit whose computational basis states are
(43), the reduced density operator of the system can be ex- defined by the bosonic even and odd coherent states or
pressed as vacuum and single photon number states. If the coherent
⬁ state 兩␣典 of the system is scattered by k photons of the envi-
␳共t兲 = 兺 Pk共t兲␳共0兲P†k 共t兲 共44兲 ronment, then it changes as

with
k=0

Pk共␶兲兩␣典 =
␶k
⬁

兺 exp
冑k! n=0 再 1
− 共n2␶2 + 兩␣兩2兲
n k␣ n
冎
冑n! 兩n典. 共49兲
再 冎冑
2
⬁
1 共n2␶2兲k
Pk共t兲 ⬅ Pk共␶兲 = 兺
n=0
exp − n2␶2
2 k!
兩n典具n兩, We are interested in the change of the off-diagonal terms for
the system state after it scatters the photons of the environ-
ment, for k photons scattering, we have

再 冎
共45兲
where ␶ = t冑⌫ is a rescaled interaction time and ⌫ = 兺 j兩␹ j兩2. ␶2k 1
Pk共␶兲兩␣典具␤兩P†k 共␶兲 = exp − 共兩␣兩2 + 兩␤兩2兲
冑1 − exp兵−n2␶2其 can be interpreted as the probability that n k! 2
particles from the system are scattered by the environment. It
is clear that a sum of all Pk satisfies the condition
⬁
兺k=0 P†k 共t兲Pk共t兲 = I. We still use qubit as a simple example to
⫻
⬁

兺 exp
n,m=0
再 −
␶2 2
2
共n + m2兲 冎
investigate the phase damping effect on it and give its Kraus
共nm兲k␣n␤*m
representation. We assume that our harmonic system is ini- ⫻ 兩n典具m兩. 共50兲
tially in 兩␺典 = ␣兩0典 + ␤兩1典 and suffers from the phase damping. 冑n ! m!
By virtue of Eq. (45), it is easy to find that the quantum As the system can scatter an arbitrary number of photons in
operation on the qubit 兩␺典 can be expressed as the environment, we need to sum all Pk共␶兲, getting
E共␳兲 = 兺
k=0
Pk共␶兲␳ P†k 共␶兲 共46兲
兺
⬁
Pk共␶兲兩␣典具␤兩P†k 共␶兲 = exp 再 1
− 共兩␣兩2 + 兩␤兩2兲
2
冎
再 冎
with ␳ = 兩␺典具␺兩, and k=0

1
再 冎
Pk共␶兲 = ␦k0兩0典具0兩 + exp − ␶2
2
␶k
冑k! 兩1典具1兩, 共47兲 ⫻ 兺
n,m
exp −
␶2
2
共n − m兲2

where ␦k0 is a Kronecker delta. By contrast to the case of the ␣n␤*m

⫻
amplitude damping in which k can only take 0 and 1, in the 冑n ! m! 兩n典具m兩. 共51兲
case of the phase damping, k can take values from 0 to ⬁,
which means that the system can be scattered by any number In order to get a clear illustration of way how the phase
of particles in the environment. In this sense, we can say that damping affects the logical qubit states, we can write out
there is an infinite number of quantum operation elements reduced density matrix of logical states 兩0典L and 兩1典L in Eq.
Pk共t兲 acting on the qubit 兩␺典 when it suffers from a phase (18) as follows:
damping. We find that Pk⫽0共t兲 makes the state 兩0典 equal to e−2␶
2共n − m兲2
␣2n␣*2m
zero, so we can rearrange all operation elements Pk⫽0共t兲 as ␳ 0共 ␶ 兲 = 兺 兩2n典具2m兩, 共52兲
one group, and redefine two Kraus operators as n,m cosh兩␣兩2冑共2n兲 ! 共2m兲!

1
再 冎
E0 = 兩0典具0兩 + exp − ␶2 兩1典具1兩,
2 ␳ 1共 ␶ 兲 = 兺
n,m
e−2␶
2共n − m兲2
␣2n+1␣*2m+1
sinh兩␣兩2冑共2n + 1兲 ! 共2m + 1兲!
兩2n + 1典具2m + 1兩.

E1 = 冑1 − exp兵− ␶2其兩1典具1兩 共48兲 共53兲

which is the form of the Ref. [2]. It is evident that E0E†0
+ E1E†1 = I, and E0 means that the environment returns to the
ground state after it is scattered by the system. Unlike the
amplitude damping, E1 means that the environment is scat-
tered to another state, which is orthogonal to its ground state.
It does not mean that only one particle in the environment is
It is obvious that when the qubit states are subject to phase
damping, although the even and odd properties are not
changed, all of the off-diagonal elements of the reduced ma-
trix ␳k共t兲 with (k = 0, 1) tend to zero with the time evolution.
In contrast to the amplitude damping, the qubit states suffer-
ing from the phase damping are no longer pure states even

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KRAUS REPRESENTATION OF A DAMPED HARMONIC … PHYSICAL REVIEW A 70, 042308 (2004)

f 0 ⬇ f 1 ⬇ 2e −2兩␣兩2
冉 I0共2兩␣兩 兲 + 2
2
⬁

兺 e−2d ␶ I2d共2兩␣兩2兲
d=1
2 2
冊 . 共56兲

Assuming also long scaled interaction times, ␶2 ⬅ ⌫t2 Ⰷ 1, the

fidelities can be approximated by compact formulas
2 2
f 0 ⬇ f 1 ⬇ 2e−2兩␣兩 关I0共2兩␣兩2兲 + 2e−2␶ I1共2兩␣兩2兲兴
1
⬇
冑␲兩␣兩 关1 + 2 exp共− 2␶ 兲兴. 共57兲
2

We can also study the effect of the phase damping on the

FIG. 2. Evolution of fidelities f 0共␶兲 (solid curves) and f 1共␶兲 entangled qubit (25) based on the above discussions, and the
(dashed curves) are given by Eq. (54) for different values of inten- relevant calculations are straightforward. Here, we only give
sity 兩␣兩2. It is seen that the curves for f 0共␶兲 and f 1共␶兲 coincide if a fidelity F共t兲 for two modes subjected to the phase damping
兩␣兩2 艌 4. as
2
1 2e−␶
though no photon is lost. Because the relative phases of dif- F共␶兲 = f 0共␶兲f 1共␶兲 +
2 sinh2共2兩␣兩2兲

冉兺 冊
ferent superposed elements of the coherent state have been
2
兩␣兩2共2n+2m+1兲e−2共n−m兲共n−m+1兲␶
destroyed by the random scattering process of the environ- 2

ment. The fidelity f k共t兲 (k = 0, 1) of the logical qubit states ⫻ , 共58兲

共2m兲 ! 共2n + 1兲!
(18) can be obtained as n,m

2 2 where f 0共␶兲 and f 1共␶兲 are given by Eq. (54). Assuming that
1 兩␣兩4共n+m+k兲e−2共n − m兲 ␶ both channels have the same phase damping constant ⌫, Eq.
f k共 ␶ 兲 = 兺
cosh2兩␣兩2 − k n,m 共2n + k兲 ! 共2m + k兲!
, 共54兲
(58) simplifies to the following single-sum formula:
2
where f k共␶兲 艋 1共k = 0 , 1兲 with the equality sign holding only 1 2e−␶
F共␶兲 = f 0共␶兲f 1共␶兲 +
in the limit 兩␣兩 → 0 so that 兩0典L ⬇ 兩0典 and 兩1典L ⬇ 兩1典. But if we 2 sinh2共2兩␣兩2兲
directly choose the vacuum state 兩0典 and single photon state
兩1典 as the logical qubit states, and they independently go into
the phase damping channel, the fidelity is kept as one. It is
⫻ 冉兺 ⬁

d=1
2
e−2d共d+1兲␶ I2d+1共2兩␣兩2兲 + I1共2兩␣兩2兲 冊 2

because the phase damping only changes the off-diagonal
terms. It means that in the phase damping channel, the use of
the vacuum state 兩0典 and single-photon state 兩1典 as logical
qubit states is better than the use of the even and odd coher-
ent states as logical qubit states 兩0典L and 兩1典L. The fidelities of
共59兲
which helps us to find approximate compact-form solutions.
For example, for either long scaled interaction times, ␶ Ⰷ 1,
or low intensities, 兩␣兩2 Ⰶ 1, the fidelity F共␶兲 reduces to
1 2e−␶
2

the even and odd coherent states suffering from phase damp- F共␶兲 ⬇ f 0共␶兲f 1共␶兲 + 关I1共2兩␣兩2兲兴2 . 共60兲
ing are compared in Fig. 2. We find that in the low coherent 2 sinh2共2兩␣兩2兲
intensity of 兩␣兩2, the even coherent state can keep a better On the other hand, by assuming high intensity, 兩␣兩2 Ⰷ 1, to-
fidelity than that of the odd coherent state. But the fidelities gether with ␶ Ⰷ 1, one obtains the following approximation:
for the even and odd coherent states approach to each other
with increasing intensity, so the states have no difference for 1
F共␶兲 ⬇ 关1 + 4 exp共− ␶2兲兴. 共61兲
the loss of information in the high coherent intensity. 2␲兩␣兩2
To show this property analytically, we find that one sum-
mation in Eq. (54) can be performed leading us to relation If the qubit states are defined by the vacuum state 兩0典 as
(k = 0, 1) logical zero state and single-photon state 兩1典 as logical one

再
state, then for the entangled qubits (33), if both of them go
into phase damping channels with the same damping con-
1
fk = I0共2兩␣兩2兲 + 共− 1兲kJ0共2兩␣兩2兲 stant ⌫, we can obtain the fidelity as
2共cosh 兩␣兩2 − k兲
2

冎
1
⬁ F ⬘共 ␶ 兲 = 兵 1 + e −␶2其 . 共62兲
2
+2 兺 e −2d2␶2
关I2d共2兩␣兩2兲 + 共− 1兲kJ2d共2x兲兴 , 共55兲
d=1 In Fig. 3, we compare the fidelities for the Eqs. (58) and
(62). We find that their fidelities are almost the same when
where J2d共x兲 is the Bessel function and I2d共x兲 is the hyper- the odd and even coherent qubit states are in the low inten-
bolic Bessel function. If 兩␣兩2 Ⰷ 1 (on the scale of Fig. 2, for sity limit. But when the intensity increases, the fidelity given
2
兩␣兩2 艌 4) then Id共2x兲 Ⰷ Jd共2x兲 and 共cosh2兩␣兩2 − k兲−1 ⬇ e−2兩␣兩 , in Eq. (58) is less than that in Eq. (62). It shows that in case
which implies that both fidelities f k are approximately equal of the phase damping, the odd and even coherent states are
to not good coding states.

042308-7
LIU et al.
FIG. 3. Evolution of fidelities F⬘共␶兲 (dashed curve), given by
Eq. (62), and F共␶兲 (solid curves), given by Eq. (58), for different
values of intensity 兩␣兩2.
IV. CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSIONS
Using a simple operator algebra solution, we have derived
the Kraus representation of a harmonic oscillator suffering
from the zero temperature environmental effect, which is
modeled as the amplitude damping or the phase damping. It
is worth noting that we could not derive a compact form for
the Kraus representation when the environment is initially in
the thermal field, because it becomes very difficult to distin-
guish the number of photons detected by the environment
and that absorbed by the system due to the existence of the
thermal field, which can excite the system to higher states
[14].
As examples and applications of a system in a zero tem-
perature environment, we first give a Kraus representation of
a single qubit whose computational basis states are defined
as bosonic vacuum and single particle number states. We
further discuss the environment effect on the qubits whose
computational basis states are defined as the bosonic odd and
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PHYSICAL REVIEW A 70, 042308 (2004)
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Yu-xi Liu thanks Franco Nori for his helpful discussions.
Yu-xi Liu was supported by the Japan Society for the Pro-
motion of Science (JSPS). This work is partially supported
by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) (15340133) by
the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).
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