Expanding Hermitian operators in a basis of projectors on coherent spin states

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Abstract

The expectation values of a Hermitian operator (A) over cap in (2s + 1)(2) specific coherent states of a spin are known to determine the operator unambiguously. As shown here, (almost) any other set of (2s + 1)(2) coherent state projectors also provide a basis for self-adjoint operators. This is proved by considering the determinant of the Gram matrix associated with the coherent state projectors as a Hamiltonian of a fictitious classical spin system. The result guarantees that (almost) any experimentally desirable choice of directions is appropriate for reconstructing the state of a quantum spin by means of a Stem-Gerlach apparatus.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)489-490
Number of pages1
JournalJournal of Optics B: Quantum and Semiclassical Optics
Volume6
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2004

Bibliographical note

© 2004 IOP Publishing Ltd. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Journal of Optics B: Quantum and Semiclassical Optics.

Keywords

  • state reconstruction
  • quorum
  • coherent states
  • density matrix

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