We propose and demonstrate a novel method to generate a large-amplitude coherent-state superposition (CSS) via ancilla-assisted photon-subtraction. The ancillary mode induces quantum interference of indistinguishable processes, widening the controllability of quantum superposition at the conditional output. We demonstrate the concept in the time domain, by a simple time-separated two-photon subtraction from cw squeezed light. We observe the largest CSS ever reported without any corrections, which will enable various quantum information applications with CSS states.
A new entangled quantum state is introduced by applying local coherent superposition (ra^+ +ta) of photon subtraction and addition to each mode of even entangled coherent state (EECS) and the properties of entanglement are investigated. It is found that the Shchukin-Vogel inseparability, the degree of entanglement and the average fidelity of quantum teleportation of the EECS can be improved due to the coherent superposition operation. The effects of improvement by coherent superposition operation are better than those by single (a^+) and two-photon (a^+ b^+) addition operations under a small r…
We study a coherent superposition of field annihilation and creation operator acting on continuous variable systems and propose its application for quantum state engineering. Specifically, it is investigated how the superposed operation transforms a classical state to a nonclassical one, together with emerging nonclassical effects. We also propose an experimental scheme to implement this elementary coherent operation and discuss its usefulness to produce an arbitrary superposition of number states involving up to two photons.
Theoretical analysis is given for a two-photon subtraction from a continuous wave (CW) squeezed vacuum with finite time separation between two detection events. In the CW photon subtraction process, the generated states are inevitably described by temporal mutimode states. Our approach is based on Schrödinger picture which provides mathematically simple forms and an intuitive understanding of its multimode structure. We show that, in our process, the photon subtracted squeezed vacuum is generated in two temporal modes and one of these modes acts as an ancillary mode to make the other one a lar…
We investigate how the entanglement properties of a two-mode state can be improved by performing a coherent superposition operation of photon subtraction and addition, proposed by Lee and Nha [Phys. Rev. A 82, 053812 (2010)], on each mode. We show that the degree of entanglement, the EPR-type correlation, and the performance of quantum teleportation can be all enhanced for the output state when the coherent operation is applied to a two-mode squeezed state. The effects of the coherent operation are more prominent than those of the mere photon subtraction and the addition particularly in the sm…
We study how photon addition and subtraction can be used to generate squeezed superpositions of coherent states in free-traveling fields (SSCSs) with high fidelities and large amplitudes. It is shown that an arbitrary $N$-photon subtraction results in the generation of a SSCS with nearly the perfect fidelity ($F>0.999$) regardless of the number of photons subtracted. In this case, the amplitude of the SSCS increases as the number of the subtracted photons gets larger. For example, two-photon subtraction from a squeezed vacuum state of 6.1dB can generate a SSCS of $α=1.26$, while in the case of…
We have created heralded coherent state superpositions (CSS), by subtracting up to three photons from a pulse of squeezed vacuum light. To produce such CSSs at a sufficient rate, we used our high-efficiency photon-number-resolving transition edge sensor to detect the subtracted photons. This is the first experiment enabled by and utilizing the full photon-number-resolving capabilities of this detector. The CSS produced by three-photon subtraction had a mean photon number of 2.75 -0.24/+0.06 and a fidelity of 0.59 -0.14/+0.04 with an ideal CSS. This confirms that subtracting more photons result…
We introduce a new non-Gaussian state, generated by m times coherent superposition operation $a\cos θ+a^{\dagger }e^{iφ}\sin θ$ (MCSO) on odd-Schrodinger-cat state (OSCS). Its normalized constant is turned out to be related with the Hermite polynomial. We further investigate the nonclassical properties of the MCSO-OSCS through Mandel's Q-parameter, quadrature squeezing, the photocount distribution and Wigner function (WF). It is shown that the nonclassicality of the MCSO-OSCS is influenced by the number of times (m) of coherent superpositon operation, the angle $θ$ and the amplitude of the coh…
We propose an experimentally feasible scheme to generate a superposition of travelling field coherent states using extremely small Kerr effect and an ancilla which could be a single photon or two entangled twin photons. The scheme contains ingredients which are all within the current state of the art and is robust against the main sources of errors which can be identified in our setups.
With the example of a Stern-Gerlach measurement on a spin-1/2 atom, we show that a superposition of both paths may be observed compatibly with properties attributed to state collapse - for example, the singleness (or mutual exclusivity) of outcomes. This is done by inserting a quantum two-state system (an ancilla) in each path, capable of responding to the passage of the atom, and thus acting as a virtual detector. We then consider real measurements on the compound system of atomic spin and two ancillae. Nondestructive measurements of a set of compatible joint observables can be performed, one…
We present a scheme to conditionally generate an arbitrary superposition of a pair of coherent states from a squeezed vacuum by means of the modified photon subtraction where a coherent state ancilla and two on/off type detectors are used. We show that, even including realistic imperfections of the detectors, our scheme can generate a target state with a high fidelity. The amplitude of the generated states can be amplified by conditional homodyne detections.
We propose a scheme for the conditional generation of arbitrary finite superpositions of (squeezed) Fock states in a single mode of a traveling optical field. The suggested setup requires only a source of squeezed states, beam splitters, strong coherent beams, and photodetectors with single-photon sensitivity. The method does not require photodetectors with a high efficiency nor with a single-photon resolution.
We investigate an optical scheme to conditionally engineer quantum states using a beam splitter, homodyne detection and a squeezed vacuum as an ancillar state. This scheme is efficient in producing non-Gaussian quantum states such as squeezed single photons and superpositions of coherent states (SCSs). We show that a SCS with well defined parity and high fidelity can be generated from a Fock state of $n\leq4$, and conjecture that this can be generalized for an arbitrary $n$ Fock state. We describe our experimental demonstration of this scheme using coherent input states and measuring experimen…
We study non-Gaussian states generated by two-photon subtraction from a cw squeezed light source. In a cw scheme one can subtract two photons from the source with a designated time separation and can genarate temporally multiplexed superposition states of continuous variables. We numerically study the properties of these states in the light of bosonic interference in the time domain. In an appropriate temporal mode amplified kittens are produced in a region where the time separation is comparable with the correlation time of squeezed packets.
A deterministic quantum amplifier inevitably adds noise to an amplified signal due to the uncertainty principle in quantum physics. We here investigate how a quantum-noise-limited amplifier can be improved by additionally employing the photon subtraction, the photon addition, and a coherent superposition of the two, thereby making a probabilistic, heralded, quantum amplifier. We show that these operations can enhance the performance in amplifying a coherent state in terms of intensity gain, fidelity, and phase uncertainty. In particular, the photon subtraction turns out to be optimal for the f…
Quantum information encoded into superposition of coherent states is an illustrative representative of practical applications of macroscopic quantum coherence possessing. However, these states are very sensitive to energy loss, losing their non-classical aspects of coherence very rapidly. An available deterministic strategy to slow down this decoherence process is to apply a Gaussian squeezing transformation prior to the loss as a protective step. Here, we propose a deterministic hybrid protection scheme utilizing strong but feasible interactions with two-level ancillas immune to spontaneous e…
A quantum system can behave as a wave or as a particle, depending on the experimental arrangement. When for example measuring a photon using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, the photon acts as a wave if the second beam-splitter is inserted, but as a particle if this beam-splitter is omitted. The decision of whether or not to insert this beam-splitter can be made after the photon has entered the interferometer, as in Wheeler's famous delayed-choice thought experiment. In recent quantum versions of this experiment, this decision is controlled by a quantum ancilla, while the beam splitter is itself…
We propose a scheme to prepare a macroscopic mechanical oscillator in a catlike state, close to a coherent state superposition. The mechanical oscillator, coupled by radiation-pressure interaction to a field in an optical cavity, is first prepared close to a squeezed vacuum state using a reservoir engineering technique. The system is then probed using a short optical pulse tuned to the lower motional sideband of the cavity resonance, realizing a photon-phonon swap interaction. A photon number measurement of the photons emerging from the cavity then conditions a phonon-subtracted catlike state …
Placing a large mass in a large spatial superposition, such as a Schrödinger Cat state is a significant and important challenge. In particular, the large spatial superposition (${\cal O}(10-100)$ $μ$m) of mesoscopic masses ($m\sim {\cal O}(10^{-14} -10^{-15})$ kg) makes it possible to test the quantum nature of gravity via entanglement in the laboratory. To date, the proposed methods of achieving this spatial delocalization are to use wavepacket expansions or quantum ancilla (for example spin) dependent forces, all of whose efficacy reduces with mass. Thus increasing the spatial splitting inde…
We propose and experimentally verify a scheme to engineer arbitrary states of traveling light field up to the two-photon level. The desired state is remotely prepared in the signal channel of spontaneous parametric down-conversion by means of conditional measurements on the idler channel. The measurement consists of bringing the idler field into interference with two ancilla coherent states, followed by two single-photon detectors, which, in coincidence, herald the preparation event. By varying the amplitudes and phases of the ancillae, we can prepare any arbitrary superposition of zero- one- …
Heralded entangled state generation enhanced by photon addition and subtraction
University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学）；Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学量子信息实验室）；Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Quantum Network, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学安徽省量子网络重点实验室）；CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学中科院量子信息与量子物理卓越创新中心）；Hefei National Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学合肥国家实验室）
本文提出了一种基于高斯源的 heralded 熵生成方案，通过结合单模压缩、线性干涉仪和辅助模式的条件光子数测量，实现双轨编码的 Bell、GHZ 和 W 状态生成，并优化参数以提高生成效率和保真度。
Role of quantum interference in the origin of higher-order nonclassical characteristics of radiation field has been probed vis-a-vis a discrete and a continuous superposition of coherent states. Specifically, the possibilities of observing higher-order nonclassical properties (e.g., higher-order antibunching (HOA), higher-order sub-Poissonian photon statistics (HOSPS), higher-order squeezing (HOS) of Hong-Mandel type and Hillery type) have been investigated using a shifted symmetric cat state that reduces to Yurke-Stoler, even and odd coherent states at various limits. This shifted symmetric c…
We report on the experimental observation of quantum-network-compatible light described by a non-positive Wigner function. The state is generated by photon subtraction from a squeezed vacuum state produced by a continuous wave optical parametric amplifier. Ideally, the state is a coherent superposition of odd photon number states, closely resembling a superposition of weak coherent states (a Schroedinger cat), with the leading contribution from a single photon state in the low parametric gain limit. Light is generated in a nearly perfect spatial mode with a Fourier-limited frequency bandwidth …
We propose an experiment to directly prove the commutation relation between bosonic annihilation and creation operators, based on the recent experimental success in single-photon subtraction and addition. We devise a single-photon interferometer to realize coherent superpositions of two sequences of photon addition and subtraction. Depending on the interference outcome, the commutation relation is directly proven or a highly nonclassical state is produced. Experimental imperfections are assessed to show that the realization of the scheme is highly feasible.
We present a scheme to conditionally engineer an optical quantum system via continuous-variable measurements. This scheme yields high-fidelity squeezed single photon and superposition of coherent states, from input single and two photon Fock states respectively. The input Fock state is interacted with an ancilla squeezed vacuum state using a beam-splitter. We transform the quantum system by post-selecting on the continuous-observable measurement outcome of the ancilla state. We experimentally demonstrate the principles of this scheme using displaced coherent states and measure experimentally f…
Non-Gaussian states, and specifically the paradigmatic Schrödinger cat state, are well-known to be very sensitive to losses. When propagating through damping channels, these states quickly loose their non-classical features and the associated negative oscillations of their Wigner function. However, by squeezing the superposition states, the decoherence process can be qualitatively changed and substantially slowed down. Here, as a first example, we experimentally observe the reduced decoherence of squeezed optical coherent-state superpositions through a lossy channel. To quantify the robustness…
Multiphoton heralding generates large-amplitude squeezed Schrödinger cat states and parity-selective Fock superpositions from squeezed vacuum via an OPA
Based on heralded interference on a six-port Mach-Zehnder interferometer, we propose protocols to generate a series of multiphoton states in primary output port, by injecting a coherent state in primary input port and two Fock states in two ancillary input ports, and measuring two Fock states in two ancillary output ports. Only manipulating at the single-photon level (i.e, |0> or |1>) in all ancillary ports, we generate sixteen types (six categories) of multiphoton nonclassical states, whose state vectors are unified as superposition of a new coherent state, a single-photon added coherent stat…
In this paper, we propose quantum circuits for runtime assertions, which can be used for both software debugging and error detection. Runtime assertion is challenging in quantum computing for two key reasons. First, a quantum bit (qubit) cannot be copied, which is known as the non-cloning theorem. Second, when a qubit is measured, its superposition state collapses into a classical state, losing the inherent parallel information. In this paper, we overcome these challenges with runtime computation through ancilla qubits, which are used to indirectly collect the information of the qubits of inte…
Quantum non-Gaussian gate is a missing piece to the realization of continuous-variable universal quantum operations in the optical system. In a measurement-based implementation of the cubic phase gate, a lowest-order non-Gaussian gate, non-Gaussian ancillary states that has a property we call nonlinear squeezing are required. This property, however, has never been experimentally verified. In this paper, we generate a superposition between a vacuum state and a single photon state whose nonlinear squeezing are maximized by the optimization of the superposition coefficients. The nonlinear squeezi…
In some quantum algorithms, arithmetic operations are of utmost importance for resource estimation. In binary quantum systems, some efficient implementation of arithmetic operations like, addition/subtraction, multiplication/division, square root, exponential and arcsine etc. have been realized, where resources are reported as a number of Toffoli gates or T gates with ancilla. Recently it has been demonstrated that intermediate qutrits can be used in place of ancilla, allowing us to operate efficiently in the ancilla-free frontier zone. In this article, we have incorporated intermediate qutrit…
Single-photon subtraction plays important roles in optical quantum information processing as it provides a non-Gaussian characteristic in continuous-variable quantum information. While the conventional way of implementing single-photon subtraction based on a low-reflectance beam splitter works properly for a single-mode quantum state, it is unsuitable for a multimode quantum state because a single photon is subtracted from all multiple modes without maintaining their mode coherence. Here we experimentally implement and characterize a mode-tunable coherent single-photon subtractor based on sum …
The non-Gaussian operations effected by adding or subtracting a photon on the entangled optical beams emerging from a parametric down-conversion process have been suggested to enhance entanglement. Heralded photon addition or subtraction is, as a matter of fact, at the heart of continuous-variable entanglement distillation. The use of such processes has recently been experimentally demonstrated in the context of the generation of optical coherent-state superpositions or the verification of the canonical commutation relations. Here, we carry out a systematic study of the effect of local photon …
Quantum technologies are developing powerful tools to generate and manipulate coherent superpositions of different energy levels. Envisaging a new generation of energy-efficient quantum devices, here we explore how coherence can be manipulated without exchanging energy with the surrounding environment. We start from the task of converting a coherent superposition of energy eigenstates into another. We identify the optimal energy-preserving operations, both in the deterministic and in the probabilistic scenario. We then design a recursive protocol, wherein a branching sequence of energy-preserv…
In a new branch of quantum computing, information is encoded into coherent states, the primary carriers of optical communication. To exploit it, quantum bits of these coherent states are needed, but it is notoriously hard to make superpositions of such continuous-variable states. We have realized the complete engineering and characterization of a qubit of two optical continuous-variable states. Using squeezed vacuum as a resource and a special photon subtraction technique, we could with high precision prepare an arbitrary superposition of squeezed vacuum and a squeezed single photon. This coul…
We study the production of entangled two- and N-mode quantum states of light in optical waveguides. To this end, we propose a quantum photonic circuit that produces a reconfigurable superposition of photon subtraction on two single-mode squeezed states. Under postselection, continuous variable or discrete variable entangled states with possibilities in quantum information processing are obtained. Likewise, nesting leads to higher-dimension entanglement with a similar design, enabling the generation of non-Gaussian continuous variable cluster states. Additionally, we show the operation of the d…
Dynamic stimulated emission for deterministic addition and subtraction of propagating photons
The University of Sydney（悉尼大学）；Sydney Quantum Academy（悉尼量子学院）；Institute for Photonics and Optical Sciences (IPOS)（光子与光学科学研究所）；California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院）；Moore Laboratory of Engineering（摩尔工程实验室）；Institute for Quantum Information and Matter（量子信息与物质研究所）
We develop a generalized framework for constructing many-body-interaction operations either in linear time, or in logarithmic time with a linear number of ancilla qubits. Exact gate decompositions are given in particular for Pauli strings, many-control Toffoli gates, number-~and parity-conserving interactions, Unitary Coupled Cluster operations, and sparse matrix generators. We provide a linear time protocol that works by creating a superposition of exponentially many different possible operator strings and then uses dynamical decoupling methodology to undo all the unwanted terms. A logarithmi…
Resolution of the century-long paradox on Maxwell's demon reveals a deep connection between information theory and thermodynamics. Although initially introduced as a thought experiment, Maxwell's demon can now be implemented in several physical systems, leading to intriguing test of information-thermodynamic relations. Here, we report experimental realization of a quantum version of Maxwell's demon using solid state spins where the information acquiring and feedback operations by the demon are achieved through conditional quantum gates. A unique feature of this implementation is that the demon…
Efficient optical cat state generation using squeezed few-photon superposition states
The University of Sydney（悉尼大学）；Sydney Quantum Academy（悉尼量子学院）；Centre for Engineered Quantum Systems, School of Physics, The University of Sydney（悉尼大学物理学院工程量子系统中心）；Institute for Photonics and Optical Sciences (IPOS), School of Physics, The University of Sydney（悉尼大学物理学院光子与光学科学研究所）
