W.

Erbsen HOMEWORK #2

Since Rλ is unitary, we can manipulate (2.2.23b) as:

h i
Rλ R†λ aRλ = exp [iλ] a −→ aRλ =Rλ exp [iλ] a (2.2.24)

Multiplying both sides of (2.2.24) by |αi from the right,

aRλ |αi = exp [iλ] Rλ a|αi (2.2.25)

Recalling from (10.97) that a|αi = α|αi, (2.2.25) becomes

aRλ |αi = exp [iλ] Rλ α|αi −→ aRλ |αi = α exp [iλ] Rλ |αi (2.2.26)

From (2.2.26), we can definitively say that Rλ |αi is an eigenvector of a with eigenvalue α exp [iλ].
Therefore, Rλ |αi creates another coherent state |exp [iλ] αi that is offset by some phase factor, which
Merzbacher denotes as C 0 . Therefore, we can say that:

Rλ |αi = C 0 |eiλ αi

It appears as though the unitary operator Rλ is appropriately denoted - it seems to rotate some initial
coherent state |αi by some angle λ within the complex plane (See Figure 10.1 above).

Exercise 10.20
For a coherent state |αi, evaluate the expectation value of the number operator a† a, its square and its vari-
ance, using the commutation relation from (10.72). Check the results by computing the expectation values of n,
2
n2 , and (∆n) directly from the Poisson distribution, (10.110).

Solution
The commutation relation is [a, a†] = aa† − a† a = 1. We also know that

a|αi = α|αi (2.2.27)

Where |αi is the coherent state. First let’s find the expectation value of N :

hN i =hα|N |αi
=hα|a†a|αi


= hα|a† (a|αi)
=α∗α
=|α|2 (2.2.28)

And similarly, we now find the expectation value of N 2 :

hN 2 i =hα|(a† a)2 |αi