A quantum state is nonclassical if its Glauber-Sudarshan P function fails to be interpreted as a probability density. This quantity is often highly singular, so that its reconstruction is a demanding task. Here we present the experimental determination of a well-behaved P function showing negativities for a single-photon-added thermal state. This is a direct visualization of the original definition of nonclassicality. The method can be useful under conditions for which many other signatures of nonclassicality would not persist.
It is shown how to write the Kirkwood-Rihaczec quasiprobability distribution as an expectation value of the vacuum state. We do this, by writing the position eigenstates as a "displacment" of the vacumm. We also give a relation between the Glauber-Sudarshan and Kirkwood-Rihaczec quasiprobability distributions.
Relating the Glauber-Sudarshan, Wigner and Husimi quasiprobability distributions operationally through the quantum limited amplifier and attenuator channels
This paper begins by reviewing the general form of the Glauber-Sudarshan P mapping, a cornerstone of coherence theory in quantum optics, which defines a two-way mapping between ensembles of states S of any classical Hamiltonian field theory and a subset of the allowed density matrices ρ in the corresponding canonical bosonic quantum field theory (QFT). It has been proven that Tr(Hρ)=E(S), where E is the classical energy and H is the normal form Hamiltonian. The new result of this paper is that ensembles of S of definite energy E map into density matrices which are mixes of eigenstates of eigen…
Phase-space distributions are widely applied in quantum optics to access the nonclassical features of radiations fields. In particular, the inability to interpret the Glauber-Sudarshan distribution in terms of a classical probability density is the fundamental benchmark for quantum light. However, this phase-space distribution cannot be directly reconstructed for arbitrary states, because of its singular behavior. In this work, we perform a characterization of the Glauber-Sudarshan representation in terms of distribution theory. We address important features of such distributions: (i) the maxi…
In this paper, we use the characteristic function, i.e., the Fourier transform of the Glauber-Sudarshan phase-space distribution, to find the degree of nonclassicality of a given state. This degree of nonclassicality quantifies the nonclassicality in terms of quantum superpositions. We demonstrate two ways to determine or to estimate the degree of nonclassicality by studying the properties of the characteristic functions. The developed criteria are applied to two examples of squeezed states undergoing a classical mixing or a nonclassical superposition with vacuum.
We demonstrate that the negative volume of any $s$-paramatrized quasiprobability, including the Glauber-Sudashan $P$-function, can be consistently defined and forms a continuous hierarchy of nonclassicality measures that are linear optical monotones. These measures therefore belong to an operational resource theory of nonclassicality based on linear optical operations. The negativity of the Glauber-Sudashan $P$-function in particular can be shown to have an operational interpretation as the robustness of nonclassicality. We then introduce an approximate linear optical monotone, and show that t…
Continuous variable entanglement is a manifestation of nonclassicality of quantum states. In this paper we attempt to analyze whether and under which conditions nonclassicality can be used as an entanglement criterion. We adopt the well-accepted definition of nonclassicality in the form of lack of well-defined positive Glauber Sudarshan P-function describing the state. After demonstrating that the classicality of subsystems is not sufficient for the nonclassicality of the overall state to be identifiable with entanglement, we focus on Gaussian states and find specific local unitary transformat…
The algebraic quantification of nonclassicality, which naturally arises from the quantum superposition principle, is related to properties of regular nonclassicality quasiprobabilities. The latter are obtained by non-Gaussian filtering of the Glauber-Sudarshan $P$~function. They yield lower bounds for the degree of nonclassicality. We also derive bounds for convex combinations of Gaussian states for certifying quantum non-Gaussianity directly from the experimentally accessible nonclassicality quasiprobabilities. Other quantum-state representations, such as $s$-parametrized quasiprobabilities, …
We experimentally examine the nonclassical character of a class of non-Gaussian states known as phase-diffused squeezed states. These states may show no squeezing effect at all, and therefore provide an interesting example to test nonclassicality criteria. The characteristic function of the Glauber-Sudarshan representation (P function) proves to be a powerful tool to detect nonclassicality. Using this criterion we find that phase-diffused squeezed states are always nonclassical, even if the squeezing effect vanishes. Testing other criteria of nonclassicality based on higher-order squeezing and…
Nonclassicality filters provide a universal method to visualize the nonclassicality of arbitrary quantum states of light through negativities of a regularized Glauber-Sudarshan $P$ function, also denoted as nonclassicality quasiprobability. Such filters are introduced and analyzed for optimizing the experimental certification of nonclassical effects. An analytic filter is constructed which preserves the full information on the quantum state. For balanced homodyne detection, the number of data points is analyzed to get the negativities of the nonclassicality quasiprobability with high statistic…
Nonclassical properties of light propagating through the turbulent atmosphere are studied. We demonstrate by numerical simulation that the probability distribution of the transmission coefficient, which characterizes the effects of the atmosphere on the quantum state of light, can be reconstructed by homodyne detection. Nonclassical photon-statistics and, more generally, nonclassical Glauber-Sudarshan functions appear to be more robust against turbulence for weak light fields rather than for bright ones.
By means of a new mod(N)-invariant operator basis, s-parametrized phase-space functions associated with bounded operators in a finite-dimensional Hilbert space are introduced in the context of the extended Cahill-Glauber formalism, and their properties are discussed in details. The discrete Glauber-Sudarshan, Wigner, and Husimi functions emerge from this formalism as specific cases of s-parametrized phase-space functions where, in particular, a hierarchical process among them is promptly established. In addition, a phase-space description of quantum tomography and quantum teleportation is pres…
In this work we generalize the Bochner criterion addressing the characteristic function, i.e., the Fourier transform, of the Glauber-Sudarshan phase-space function. For this purpose we extend the Bochner theorem by including derivatives of the characteristic function. The resulting necessary and sufficient nonclassicality criteria unify previously known moment-based criteria with those based on the characteristic function. For applications of the generalized nonclassicality probes, we provide direct sampling formulas for balanced homodyne detection. A squeezed vacuum state is experimentally re…
We use the exact calculation of the quantum mechanical, temporal characteristic function $χ(η)$ and the degree of second-order coherence $g^{(2)}(τ)$ for a single-mode, degenerate parametric amplifier for a system in the Gaussian state, viz., a displaced-squeezed thermal state, to study the different criteria for nonclassicality. In particular, we contrast criteria that involve only one-time functions of the dynamical system, for instance, the quasiprobability distribution $P(β)$ of the Glauber-Sudarshan coherent or P-representation of the density of state and the Mandel $Q_{M}(τ)$ parameter, …
Starting with the quasi-Bell states of the qubit-oscillator system, we obtain time evolution of the density matrix under the adiabatic approximation. The composite density matrix leads to, via partial tracing of the qubit degree of freedom, the reduced density matrix of the oscillator that is utilized to obtain the quasi-probability distributions such as Glauber-Sudarshan P function, Wigner W function and Husimi Q function. The negativity of the Wigner function acts as a measure of the nonclassicality of the state. The negativity becomes particularly relevant in understanding a comparison betw…
Noisy teleportation of nonclassical quantum states via a two-mode squeezed-vacuum state is studied with the completely positive map and the Glauber-Sudarshan $P$-function. Using the nonclassical depth as a measure of transmission performance, we compare the teleportation scheme with the direct transmission through a noisy channel. The noise model is based on the coupling to the vacuum field. It is shown that the teleportation channel has better transmission performance than the direct transmission channel in a certain region. The bounds for such region and for obtaining the nonvanished nonclas…
There is a common understanding in quantum optics that nonclassical states of light are states that do not have a positive semidefinite and sufficiently regular Glauber-Sudarshan $P$ function. Almost all known nonclassical states have $P$ functions that are highly irregular which makes working with them difficult and direct experimental reconstruction impossible. Here we introduce classes of nonclassical states with regular, non-positive-definite $P$ functions. They are constructed by "puncturing" regular smooth positive $P$ functions with negative Dirac-delta peaks, or other sufficiently narr…
Genuinely quantum states of a harmonic oscillator may be distinguished from their classical counterparts by the Glauber-Sudarshan P-representation -- a state lacking a positive P-function is said to be nonclassical. In this paper, we propose a general operational framework for studying nonclassicality as a resource in networks of passive linear elements and measurements with feed-forward. Within this setting, we define new measures of nonclassicality based on the quantum fluctuations of quadratures, as well as the quantum Fisher information of quadrature displacements. These lead to fundamenta…
Path-Integral Formulation of Bosonic Markovian Open Quantum Dynamics with Monte Carlo stochastic trajectories using the Glauber-Sudarshan P, Wigner, and Husimi Q Functions and Hybrids
Nonclassicality is a key ingredient for quantum enhanced technologies and experiments involving macro- scopic quantum coherence. Considering various exactly-solvable quantum-oscillator systems, we address the role played by the anharmonicity of their potential in the establishment of nonclassical features. Specifically, we show that a monotonic relation exists between the the entropic nonlinearity of the considered potentials and their ground state nonclassicality, as quantified by the negativity of the Wigner function. In addition, in order to clarify the role of squeezing--which is not captu…
A general method is introduced for verifying multitime quantum correlations through the characteristic function of the time-dependent P functional that generalizes the Glauber-Sudarshan P function. Quantum correlation criteria are derived which identify quantum effects for an arbitrary number of points in time. The Magnus expansion is used to visualize the impact of the required time ordering, which becomes crucial in situations when the interaction problem is explicitly time dependent. We show that the latter affects the multi-time-characteristic function and, therefore, the temporal evolutio…
Nonclassicality cannot be a single-observable property since the statistics of any quantum observable is compatible with classical physics. We develop a general procedure to reveal nonclassical behavior from the joint measurement of multiple observables. This requires enlarged spaces and couplings with auxiliary degrees of freedom so it must be followed by an inversion procedure to infer system properties from the observed statistics. In particular this discloses nonclassical properties of standard examples of classical-like behavior, such as SU(2) and Glauber coherent states. Moreover, when c…
Measures of quantum properties are essential to understanding the fundamental differences between quantum and classical systems as well as quantifying resources for quantum technologies. Here two broad classes of bosonic phase-space functions, which are filtered versions of the Glauber-Sudarshan $P$ function, are compared with regard to their ability to uncover nonclassical effects of light through their negativities. Gaussian filtering of the $P$ function yields the family of $s$-parametrized quasiprobabilities, while more powerful regularized nonclassicality quasiprobabilities are obtained b…
Singularity or negativity of Glauber P-function is a widespread notion of nonclassicality, with important implications in quantum optics and with the character of an irreducible resource. Here we explore how P-nonclassicality may be generated by conditional Gaussian measurements on bipartite Gaussian states. This nonclassical steering may occur in a weak form, which does not imply entanglement, and in a strong form that implies EPR-steerability and thus entanglement. We show that field quadratures are the best measurements to remotely generate nonclassicality, and exploit this result to derive…
We develop an enhanced technique for characterizing quantum optical processes based on probing unknown quantum processes only with coherent states. Our method substantially improves the original proposal [M. Lobino et al., Science 322, 563 (2008)], which uses a filtered Glauber-Sudarshan decomposition to determine the effect of the process on an arbitrary state. We introduce a new relation between the action of a general quantum process on coherent state inputs and its action on an arbitrary quantum state. This relation eliminates the need to invoke the Glauber-Sudarshan representation for sta…
Exact Cahill-Glauber Hierarchy for the Double-Morse Ground State
Khalifa University of Science and Technology（哈利法科学技术大学）；KU Research Center for Intelligent Computing, Networks and Sensing (ICONS)（KU智能计算、网络与传感研究中心）；Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences（捷克科学院物理研究所）
We calculate exactly the quantum mechanical, temporal Wigner quasiprobability density for a single-mode, degenerate parametric amplifier for a system in the Gaussian state, viz., a displaced-squeezed thermal state. The Wigner function allows us to calculate the fluctuations in photon number and the quadrature variance. We contrast the difference between the nonclassicality criteria, which is independent of the displacement parameter $α$, based on the Glauber-Sudarshan quasiprobability distribution $P(β)$ and the classical/nonclassical behavior of the Mandel $Q_{M}(τ)$ parameter, which depends …
It is shown that the number-phase Wigner function defines uniquely the respective density operator. Relations between the Glauber-Sudarshan distribution $\mathcal{P}(α)$ and the number-phase Wigner function is found. This result is then generalised to the case of the Cahil-Glauber distributions $\mathcal{W}^{(s)}(α)$, $-1\leq s \leq 1$.
We examine the notion of nonclassicality in terms of quasiprobability distributions. In particular, we do not only ask if a specific quasiprobability can be interpreted as a classical probability density, but require that characteristic features of classical electrodynamics are resembled. We show that the only quasiprobabilities which correctly describe the superposition principle of classical electromagnetic fields are the $s$-parameterized quasiprobabilities. Furthermore, the Glauber-Sudarshan P function is the only quantum-mechanical quasiprobability which is transformed at a classical atte…
A bosonic state is commonly considered nonclassical (or quantum) if its Glauber-Sudarshan $P$ function is not a classical probability density, which implies that only coherent states and their statistical mixtures are classical. We quantify the nonclassicality of a single qubit, defined by the vacuum and single-photon states, by applying the following four well-known measures of nonclassicality: (1) the nonclassical depth, $τ$, related to the minimal amount of Gaussian noise which changes a nonpositive $P$ function into a positive one; (2) the nonclassical distance $D$, defined as the Bures di…
We propose a quantum optical device to experimentally realize quantum processes, which perform the regularization of the---in general highly singular---Glauber-Sudarshan $P$~functions of arbitrary quantum states before their application and/or measurement. This allows us to produce a broad class of nonclassical states with regular $P$~functions, also called nonclassicality quasiprobabilities. For this purpose, the input states are combined on highly transmissive beam splitters with specific Gaussian or non-Gaussian classical states. We study both balanced and unbalanced homodyne detections for…
In this paper, we detail an orthogonalization procedure that allows for the quantification of the amount of coherence present an arbitrary superposition of coherent states. The present construction is based on the quantum coherence resource theory introduced by Baumgratz et al., and the coherence resource monotone that we identify is found to characterize the nonclassicality traditionally analyzed via the Glauber-Sudarshan $P$ distribution. This suggests that identical quantum resources underlie both quantum coherence in the discrete finite dimensional case and the nonclassicality of quantum l…
Regular quasiprobabilities are introduced for the aim of characterizing quantum correlations of multimode radiation fields. Negativities of these quantum-correlation quasiprobabilities are necessary and sufficient for any quantum correlation encoded in the multimode Glauber-Sudarshan P function. The strength of the method is demonstrated for a two-mode phase randomized squeezed-vacuum state. It has no entanglement, no quantum discord, a positive Wigner function, and a classical reduced single-mode representation. Our method clearly visualizes the quantum correlations of this state.
Quantum features of correlated optical modes define a major aspect of the nonclassicality in quantized radiation fields. However, the phase-sensitive detection of a two-mode light field is restricted to interferometric setups and local intensity measurements. Even the full reconstruction of the quantum state of a single radiation mode relies on such detection layouts and the preparation of a well-defined reference light field. In this work, we establish the notion of the essential quantum correlations of two-mode light fields. It refers to those quantum correlations which are measurable by a g…
A Sensitive Nonclassicality Certification Functional for Continuous-Variable Systems
Institute of Photonics Technologies, National Tsing Hua University（国立清华大学光子技术研究所）；Department of Physics, National Tsing Hua University（国立清华大学物理系）；National Center for Theoretical Sciences（国家理论科学中心）；Center for Quantum Science and Technology（量子科学技术中心）
The Glauber-Sudarshan diagonal `weight' function provides a natural divide between the quantum-optical notion of classical and nonclassical states of continuous variables systems. Based on this demarcation, a channel is said to be nonclassicality breaking if it outputs only classical states for any input state. We focus on multimode bosonic Gaussian channels and classify those that are nonclassicality breaking by introducing a criterion that needs to be satisfied by the matrices representing these channels. The criterion can be interpreted as a nonclassicality benchmark for these channels sinc…
In the recent experimental and theoretical literature well-established nonclassicality criteria from the field of quantum optics have been directly applied to the case of excitations in matter-waves. Among these are violations of Cauchy-Schwarz inequalities, Glauber-Sudarshan P-nonclassicality, sub-Poissonian number-difference squeezing (also known as the two-mode variance) and the criterion of nonseparability. We review the strong connection of these criteria and their meaning in quantum optics, and point out differences in the interpretation between light and matter waves. We then calculate …
Nonclassicality according to the singularity or negativity of the Glauber P-function is a powerful resource in quantum information, with relevant implications in quantum optics. In a Gaussian setting, and for a system of two modes, we explore how P-nonclassicality may be conditionally generated or influenced on one mode by Gaussian measurements on the other mode. Starting from the class of two-mode squeezed thermal states (TMST), we introduce the notion of nonclassical steering (NS) and the graphical tool of Gaussian triangoloids. In particular, we derive a necessary and sufficient condition f…
We study the quasiprobability representation of quantum light, as introduced by Glauber and Sudarshan, for the unified characterization of quantum phenomena. We begin with reviewing the past and current impact of this technique. Regularization and convolution methods are specifically considered since they are accessible in experiments. We further discuss more general quantum systems for which the concept of negative probabilities can be generalized, being highly relevant for quantum information science. For analyzing quantum superpositions, we apply recently developed approaches to visualize q…
Duan, Giedke, Cirac and Zoller (quant-ph/9908056) and, independently, Simon (quant-ph/9909044) have recently found necessary and sufficient conditions for the separability (classical correlation) of the Gaussian two-party (continuous variable) states. Duan et al remark that their criterion is based on a "much stronger bound" on the total variance of a pair of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-type operators than is required simply by the uncertainty relation. Here, we seek to formalize and test this particular assertion in both classical and quantum-theoretic frameworks. We first attach to these states …
Tomograms and quasi-distribution functions like Wigner, Glauber - Sudarshan $P$- and Husimi $Q$- functions that violate the standard normalization condition are considered. Conditions under which a reconstruction of the density matrix using these tomograms and quasi-distribution functions is possible are obtained. Three different examples of states like the de Broglie plane wave, the Moschinsky shutter problem and the stationary state of the charged particle in the uniform and constant electric field are studied. Their tomograms and quasi-distribution functions expressed in terms of the Dirac …
The Dirac delta function is widely used in many areas of physics and mathematics. Here we consider the generalization of a Dirac delta function to allow the use of complex arguments. We show that the properties of a generalized delta function are very different from those of a Dirac delta function and that they behave more like a pole in the complex plane. We use the generalized delta function to derive the Glauber-Sudarshan P-function for a Schrödinger cat state in a surprisingly simple form. Aside from their potential applications in classical electromagnetism and quantum optics, these resul…
Conventional Glauber coherent states (CS) can be defined in several equivalent ways, e.g., by displacing the vacuum or, explicitly, by their infinite Poissonian expansion in Fock states. It is well known that these definitions become inequivalent if applied to finite $d$-level systems (qudits). We present a comparative Wigner-function description of the qudit CS defined (i) by the action of the truncated displacement operator on the vacuum and (ii) by the Poissonian expansion in Fock states of the Glauber CS truncated at $(d-1)$-photon Fock state. These states can be generated from a classical…
Quantum polarization is investigated by means of a trajectory picture based on the Bohmian formulation of quantum mechanics. Relevant examples of classical-like two-mode field states are thus examined, namely Glauber and SU(2) coherent states. Although these states are often regarded as classical, the analysis here shows that the corresponding electric-field polarization trajectories display topologies very different from those expected from classical electrodynamics. Rather than incompatibility with the usual classical model, this result demonstrates the dynamical richness of quantum motions,…
We present a mathematical procedure which leads us to obtain analytical solutions for the atomic inversion and Wigner function in the framework of the Jaynes-Cummings model with an external quantum field, for any kinds of cavity and driving fields. Such solutions are expressed in the integral form, with their integrands having a commom term that describes the product of the Glauber-Sudarshan quasiprobability distribution functions for each field, and a kernel responsible for the entanglement. Considering two specific initial states of the tripartite system, the formalism is then applied to cal…
Nonclassical states of a quantized light are described in terms of Glauber-Sudarshan P distribution which is not a genuine classical probability distribution. Despite several attempts, defining a uniform measure of nonclassicality (NC) for the single mode quantum states of light is yet an open task. In our previous work [Phys. Rev. A 95, 012330 (2017)] we have shown that the existing well-known measures fail to quantify the NC of single mode states that are generated under multiple NC-inducing operations. Recently, Ivan et. al. [Quantum. Inf. Process. 11, 853 (2012)] have defined a measure of …
We employ frames consisting of rank-one projectors (i.e. pure quantum states) and their induced informationally complete quantum measurements (IC-POVMs) to represent generally mixed quantum states by quasi-probability distributions. In the case of discrete frames on finite dimensional systems this results in a vector like representation by quasi-probability vectors, while for the continuous frame of coherent states in continuous variable (CV) systems the approach directly leads to the celebrated representation by Glauber-Sudarshan P-functions and Husimi Q-functions. We explain that the Kolmogo…
Long-term quantum coherence constitutes one of the main challenges when engineering quantum devices. However, easily accessible means to quantify complex decoherence mechanisms are not readily available, nor are sufficiently stable systems. We harness novel phase-space methods - expressed through non-Gaussian convolutions of highly singular Glauber-Sudarshan quasiprobabilities - to dynamically monitor quantum coherence in polariton condensates with significantly enhanced coherence times. Via intensity- and time-resolved reconstructions of such phase-space functions from homodyne detection data…
