Effect of dissipative environment on collapses and revivals of a nonlinear quantum oscillator

Abstract

We study the dissipative dynamics of a wave packet passing through two different non-linear media. The effect of dissipation on the phenomenon of collapses and revivals of a wave packet as it evolves in a Kerr-type non-linear medium (represented by the Hamiltonian $({a}^{\dag} a)^2$) is investigated. We find that partial revivals do take place when dissipation values are moderate. For a certain regime of parameters we find a solution where revivals do not die even in the presence of dissipation and the non-linearity appears to compensate for the energy and coherence loss. We consider the next order non-linearity, represented by the Hamiltonian $({a}^{\dag} a)^3$, where we observe the phenomena of super revivals. The effect of dissipation in this case has an additional feature of number dependence for the displaced number states. While our simulations explore the degree to which the phenomena of collapses and revivals degrades in a dissipative environment, we also discovered the presence of a situation where degradation is minimal.