Structure of propagators for quantum nondemolition systems

Abstract

In the scheme of a quantum nondemolition (QND) measurement, an observable is measured without perturbing its evolution. In the context of studies of decoherence in quantum computing, we examine the `open' quantum system of a two-level atom, or equivalently, a spin-1/2 system, in interaction with quantum reservoirs of either oscillators or spins, under the QND condition of the Hamiltonian of the system commuting with the system-reservoir interaction. The propagators for these QND Hamiltonians are shown to be connected to the squeezing and rotation operators for the two baths, respectively. Squeezing and rotation being both phase space area-preserving canonical transformations, this brings out an interesting analogy between the energy-preserving QND Hamiltonians and the homogeneous linear canonical transformations.