Quantum state engineering and reconstruction in cavity QED. An analytical approach

The models of a strongly-driven micromaser and a one-atom laser are developed. Their analytical solutions are obtained by means of phase space techniques. It is shown how to exploit the model of a one-atom laser for simultaneous generation and monitoring of the decoherence of the atom-field ''Schroedinger cat'' states. The similar machinery applied to the problem of the generation of the maximally-entangled states of two atoms placed inside an optical cavity permits its analytical solution. The steady-state solution of the problem exhibits a structure in which the two-atom maximally-entangled state correlates with the vacuum state of the cavity. As a consequence, it is demonstrated that the atomic maximally-entangled state, depending on a coupling regime, can be produced via a single or a sequence of no-photon measurements. The question of the implementation of a quantum memory device using a dispersive interaction between the collective internal ground state of an atomic ensemble and two orthogonal modes of a cavity is addressed. The problem of quantum state reconstruction in the context of cavity quantum electrodynamics is considered. The optimal operational definition of the Wigner function of a cavity field is worked out. It is based on the Fresnel transform of the atomic inversion of a probe atom. The general integral transformation for the Wigner function reconstruction of a particle in an arbitrary symmetric potential is derived