Stochastic collective density-matrix approach for conditional spin squeezing

In this article, we present a stochastic collective density-matrix approach to numerically study the conditional dynamics of large systems of identical particles in the presence of individual and collective dissipation, as described by stochastic master equations. To illustrate the application potential of the approach, we use it to study the conditional spin squeezing of hundreds of identical atoms in a bad optical cavity subject to homodyne detection. We demonstrate that the conditional spin squeezing can be vividly illustrated by a Gaussian-like distribution on the quantum states of the atomic ensemble, and we examine the influence of various processes, such as the individual atomic dissipation, on this distribution. In the future, the present approach can be used to reveal measurement effects of multiple-level atoms system, to explore generation of exotic nonclassical states, such as cat states, and to gauge approximate approaches, such as the stochastic mean-field approach.