Classification of Spin-Nematic Squeezing in Spin-1 Collective Atomic Systems

Abstract: In spin-1 collective atomic systems, the spin and nematic-tensor operators constitute the su(3) Lie algebra whose su(2) subalgebras are shown to give two distinct classes of squeezing which are unitarily equivalent to spin squeezing and spin-nematic squeezing. We explicitly construct a unitary operator that generates an arbitrary squeezed spin-nematic state from an arbitrary Fock state. In particular, we demonstrate that squeezed spin states can be generated from a polar state and that squeezed spin-nematic sates can be generated from a fully spin-polarized state.