No abstract

The master equation for the state of an open quantum system can be unravelled into stochastic trajectories described by a stochastic master equation. Such stochastic differential equations can be interpreted as an update formula for the system state conditioned on results obtained from monitoring the bath. So far only one parameterization (mathematical representation) for arbitrary diffusive unravellings (quantum trajectories arising from monitorings with Gaussian white noise) of a system described by a master equation with L Lindblad terms has been found [H. M. Wiseman and A. C. Doherty, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 070405 (2005)]. This parameterization, which we call the U-rep, parameterizes diffusive unravellings by L 2 +2L real numbers, arranged in a matrix U subject to three constraints. In this paper we investigate alternative parameterizations of diffusive measurements. We find, rather surprisingly, the description of diffusive unravellings can be unified by a single equation for a non-square complex matrix if one is willing to allow for some redundancy by lifting the number of real parameters necessary from L 2 + 2L to 3L 2 + L. We call this parameterization the M-rep. Both the M-rep and U-rep lack a physical picture of what the measurement should look like. We thus propose another parameterization, the B-rep, that details how the measurement is implemented in terms of beam-splitters, phase shifters, and homodyne detectors. Relations between the different representations are derived.