[Physics] Are coherent states of light ‘classical’ or ‘quantum’

opticsquantum mechanicsquantum-informationquantum-interpretationsquantum-optics

Coherent states of light, defined as

$$|\alpha\rangle=e^{-\frac{|\alpha|^2}{2}}\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{\alpha^n}{\sqrt{n!}}|n\rangle
$$

for a given complex number $\alpha$ and where $|n\rangle$ is a Fock state with $n$ photons, are usually referred to as the most classical states of light. On the other hand, many quantum protocols with no classical analog such as quantum key distribution and quantum computing can be implemented with coherent states.

In what sense or in what regime should we think of coherent states as being 'classical' or 'quantum'?

Best Answer

Coherent states are quantum states, but they have properties that mirror classical states in a sense that can be made precise.

To be concrete, let's consider coherent states in the context of the simple harmonic quantum oscillator which have precisely the expression you wrote in the question. One can demonstrate the following two facts (which I highly encourage you to prove to yourself);

  • The expectation value of the position operator in a coherent state is \begin{align} \langle\alpha|\hat x|\alpha\rangle = \sqrt{\frac{\hbar}{2m\omega}}(\alpha + \alpha^*) \end{align}

  • The time evolution of a coherent state is obtained by simply time evolving its eigenvalue by a phase; \begin{align} e^{-it \hat H/\hbar}|\alpha\rangle = |\alpha(t)\rangle, \qquad \alpha(t):=e^{-i\omega t}\alpha. \end{align} In other words, if the system is in a coherent state, then it remains in a coherent state!

If you put these two facts together, then you find that the expectation value of the position operator has the following time-evolution behavior in a coherent state: \begin{align} \langle\hat x\rangle_t:=\langle\alpha(t)|\hat x|\alpha(t)\rangle = \sqrt{\frac{\hbar}{2m\omega}}(e^{-i\omega t}\alpha + e^{i\omega t}\alpha^*) \end{align} but now simply write the complex number $\alpha$ in polar form $\alpha = \rho e^{i\phi}$ to obtain \begin{align} \langle \hat x\rangle = \sqrt{\frac{\hbar}{2m\omega}}2\rho\cos(\omega t-\phi) \end{align} In other words, we have shown the main fact indicating that coherent states behave "classically":

  • The expectation value of the position of the system oscillates like the position of a classical simple harmonic oscillator.

This is one sense in which the coherent state is classical. Another fact is that

  • Coherent states minimize qauntum uncertainty in the sense that they saturate the heisenberg uncertainty bound; \begin{align} \sigma_x\sigma_p = \frac{\hbar}{2} \end{align} To the extent that uncertainty is a purely quantum effect, minimization of this effect can be interpreted as maximizing "classicalness."
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