We make a comparative study of quadrature squeezing, photon-number distribution and Wigner function in a decayed quantum system. Specifically, for a field mode prepared initially in cat states interacting with a zero-temperature environment, we show that the rate of reduction of the nonclassical effects in this system is proportional to the occurrence of the decoherence process.
We investigate nonclassical properties of the output of a Bose-Einstein condensate in Milburn's model of intrinsic decoherence. It is shown that the squeezing property of the atom laser is suppressed due to decoherence. Nevertheless, if some very special conditions were satisfied, the squeezing properties of atom laser could be robust against the decoherence.
The decoherence of nonclassical motional states of a trapped $^9 {\rm Be^+}$ ion in a recent experiment is investigated theoretically. Sources of decoherence considered here destroy the characteristic coherent quantum dynamics of the system but do not cause energy dissipation. Here they are first introduced phenomenologically and then described using a microscopic Hamiltonian formulation. Theoretical predictions are compared to experimental results.
There are quantum states of light that can be expressed as finite superpositions of Fock states (FSFS). We demonstrate the nonclassicality of an arbitrary FSFS by means of its phase space distributions such as the Wigner function and the $Q$-function. The decoherence of the FSFS is studied by considering the time evolution of its Wigner function in amplitude decay and phase damping channels. As examples, we determine the nonclassicality and decoherence of generalized and reciprocal binomial states.
Theoretical analysis is given of nonclassicality and decoherence of the field states generated by adding any number of photons to the squeezed thermal state (STS). Based on the fact that the squeezed number state can be considered as a single-variable Hermite polynomial excited state, the compact expression of the normalization factor is derived, a Legendre polynomial. The nonclassicality is investigated by exploring the sub-Poissonian and negative Wigner function (WF). The results show that the WF of single photon-added STS (PASTS) always has negative values at the phase space center. The dec…
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 discuss nonclassical properties of single-photon subtracted squeezed vacuum states in terms of the sub-Poissonian statistics and the negativity of the Wigner function. We derive a compact expression for the Wigner function from which we find the region of phase space where Wigner function is negative. We find an upper bound on the squeezing parameter for the state to exhibit sub-Poissonian statistics. We then study the effect of decoherence on the single-photon subtracted squeezed states. We present results for two different models of decoherence, viz. amplitude decay model and the phase di…
We motivate and introduce a class of "hierarchical" quantum superposition states of $N$ coupled quantum oscillators. Unlike other well-known multimode photonic Schrödinger cat states such as entangled coherent states, the hierarchical superposition states are characterized as two-branch superpositions of tensor products of single-mode Schrödinger cat states. In addition to analyzing the photon statistics and quasiprobability distributions of prominent examples of these nonclassical states, we consider their usefulness for high-precision quantum metrology of nonlinear optical Hamiltonians and q…
In this thesis concrete quantum systems are investigated in the framework of the environment induced decoherence. The focus is on the dynamics of highly nonclassical quantum states, the Wigner function of which are negative over some regions of their domains. One of the chosen physical systems is a diatomic molecule, where the potential energy of the nuclei is an anharmonic function of their distance. A system of two-level atoms, which can be important from the viewpoint of quantum information technology, is also investigated. A method is described that is valid in both systems and can determi…
We introduce Hermite polynomial excitation squeezed vacuum (SV) H_{n}(O)S(r)|0> with O=u a+v a^{+}. We investigate analytically the nonclassical properties according to Mandel's Q parameter, second correlation function, squeezing effect and the negativity of Wigner function (WF). It is found that all these nonclassicalities can be enhanced by H_{n}(O)operation and adjustable parameters u and v. In particular, the optimal negative volume delta_{opt}of WF can be achieved by modulating u and v for n>=2,while delta is kept unchanged for n=1. Furthermore, the decoherence effect of phase-sensitive e…
We study the nonclassicality of photon-added squeezed vacuum (PASV) and its decoherence in thermal environment in terms of the sub-Poissonian statistics and the negativity of Wigner function (WF). By converting the PASV to a squeezed Hermite polynomial excitation state, we derive a compact expression for the normalization factor of m-PASV, which is an m-order Legendre polynomial of squeezing parameter r. We also derive the explicit expression of WF of m-PASV and find the negative region of WF in phase space. We show that there is an upper bound value of r for this state to exhibit sub-Poissoni…
We present several examples where prominent quantum properties are transferred from a microscopic superposition to thermal states at high temperatures. Our work is motivated by an analogy of Schrodinger's cat paradox, where the state corresponding to the virtual cat is a mixed thermal state with a large average photon number. Remarkably, quantum entanglement can be produced between thermal states with nearly the maximum Bell-inequality violation even when the temperatures of both modes approach infinity.
We theoretically introduce a new kind of non-Gaussian state-----Laguerre polynomial excited coherent states by using the multiphoton catalysis which actually can be considered as a block comprising photon number operator. It is found that the normalized factor is related to the two-variable Hermite polynomials. We then investigate the nonclassical properties in terms of Mandel's Q parameter, quadrature squeezing, second correlation, and the negativity of Wigner function (WF). It is shown that all these properties are related to the amplitude of coherent state, catalysis number and unbalanced b…
Considering the concept of "{\it nonlinear coherent states}", we will study the interference effects by introducing the {\it "superposition of two classes of nonlinear coherent states"} which are $\fracπ{2}$ out of phase. The formalism has then been applied to a few physical systems as "harmonious states", "SU(1,1) coherent states" and "the center of mass motion of trapped ion". Finally, the nonclassical properties such as sub-Poissonian statistics, quadrature squeezing, amplitude-squared squeezing and Wigner distribution function of the superposed states have been investigated, numerically. E…
{\small We investigate nonclassical properties of the field states generated by subtracting any number photon from the squeezed thermal state (STS). It is found that the normalization factor of photon-subtracted STS (PSSTS) is a Legendre polynomial of squeezing parameter }${\small r}${\small \ and average photon number }$\bar{n}$ {\small of thermal state. Expressions of several quasi-probability distributions of PSSTS are derived analytically. Furthermore, the nonclassicality is discussed in terms of the negativity of Wigner function (WF). It is shown that the WF of single PSSTS always has neg…
Marshall et al. gedanken experiment of the quantum superpposition of a mirror (oscilating part of a Michelson interferometer) interacting with single photon is consequently interpreted by relative decoherence.Such relative decoherence (based on the spontaneous superposition breaking (effective hiding)) on the photon (quantum object) caused by mirror (measurement device) is sufficient to model real measurement.
We study the nonclassicality of the evolution of a superposition of an arbitrary number of photon-added squeezed coherent Schrödinger cat states in a nonlinear Kerr medium. The nonlinearity of the medium gives rise to the periodicities of the quantities such as the Wehrl entropy $S_{Q}$ and the negativity $δ_{W}$ of the $W$-distribution, and a series of local minima of these quantities arise at the rational submultiples of the said period. At these local minima the evolving state coincides with the transient Yurke-Stoler type of photon-added squeezed kitten states, which, for the choice of the…
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 consider an experimentally realizable scheme for manipulating quantum states using a general superposition of products of field annihilation ($\hat{a}$) and creation ($\hat{a}^†$) operators of the type ($s \hat{a}\hat{a}^†+ t \hat{a}^†\hat{a}$), with $s^2 + t^2 = 1$. Such an operation, when applied on states with classical features, is shown to introduce strong nonclassicality. We quantify the generated degree of nonclassicality by the negative volume of Wigner distribution in the phase space and investigate two other observable nonclassical features, sub-Poissonian statistics and squeezing…
A quantum memory interacts with its environment and loses information via decoherence as well as incoherence. A robust quantum control that prepares, preserves, and manipulates nonclassical correlations even in the presence of environmental influence is of paramount importance in quantum information processing. A well-known technique to suppress decoherence, namely Dynamical Decoupling (DD), consists of a sequence of rapid flips applied to the system in order to refocus the system-environment interactions. In this work, we integrate DD with quantum gates using optimal control techniques to rea…
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.
Environment induced decoherence entails the absence of quantum interference phenomena from the macroworld. The loss of coherence between superposed wave packets depends on their separation. The precise temporal course depends on the relative size of the time scales for decoherence and other processes taking place in the open system and its environment. We use the exactly solvable model of an harmonic oscillator coupled to a bath of oscillators to illustrate various decoherence scenarios: These range from exponential golden-rule decay for microscopic superpositions, system-specific decay for la…
Recently there has been much interest in optomechanical devices for the production of macroscopic quantum states. Here we focus on a proposed scheme for achieving macroscopic superpositions via nested interferometry. We consider the effects of finite temperature on the superposition produced. We also investigate in detail the scheme's feasibility for probing various novel decoherence mechanisms.
We study dynamics of nonclassical correlations by exactly solving a model consisting of two atomic qubits with spontaneous emission. We find that the nonclassical correlations defined by different measures give different qualitative characterizations of those correlations. The relative behaviors of those correlation measures are presented explicitly for various quantum states in the two-qubit atomic system. In particular, we find that the robustness of quantum correlations can be greatly enhanced by performing appropriate local unitary operations on the initial state of the system.
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 show that the quantum states generated by universal optimal quantum cloning of a single photon represent an universal set of quantum superpositions resilient to decoherence. We adopt Bures distance as a tool to investigate the persistence ofquantum coherence of these quantum states. According to this analysis, the process of universal cloning realizes a class of quantum superpositions that exhibits a covariance property in lossy configuration over the complete set of polarization states in the Bloch sphere.
We study the changes in quantum Fisher information (QFI) values for one quantum system consisting of a superposition of W and GHZ states. In a recent work [6], QFI values of this mentioned system studied. In this work, we extend this problem for the changes of QFI values in some noisy channels. We show the change in QFI depending on noise parameters. We report interesting results for different type of decoherence channels.
We show that all Macroscopic Quantum Superpositions (MQS) based on phase-covariant quantum cloning are characterized by an anomalous high resilence to the de-coherence processes. The analysis supports the results of recent MQS experiments and leads to conceive a useful conjecture regarding the realization of complex decoherence - free structures for quantum information, such as the quantum computer.
In the present paper, we study spin squeezing under decoherence in the superposition of tripartite maximally entangled GHZ and W states. Here we use amplitude damping, phase damping and depolarisation channel. We have investigated the dynamics of spin squeezing with the interplay of superposition and decoherence parameters with different directions of the mean spin vector. We have found the mixture of GHZ and W states is robust against spin squeezing generation for amplitude damping and phase damping channels for certain directions of the mean spin vector. However, the depolarisation channel p…
A deterministic scheme for generating a macroscopic superposition state of a nanomechanical resonator is proposed. The nonclassical state is generated through a suitably engineered dissipative dynamics exploiting the optomechanical quadratic interaction with a bichromatically driven optical cavity mode. The resulting driven dissipative dynamics can be employed for monitoring and testing the decoherence processes affecting the nanomechanical resonator under controlled conditions.
We report the realization of an entangled quantum superposition of M=12 photons by a high gain, quantum-injected optical parametric amplification. The system is found so highly resilient against decoherence to exhibit directly accessible mesoscopic interference effects at normal temperature. By modern tomographic methods the non-separability and the quantum superposition are demonstrated for the overall mesoscopic output state of the dynamic ''closed system''. The device realizes the condition conceived by Erwin Schroedinger with his 1935 paradigmatic ''Cat'' apologue, a fundamental landmark i…
Overlapping resonances are shown to provide new insights into the extent of decoherence experienced by a system superposition state in the regime of strong system- environment coupling. As an example of this general approach, a generic system comprising spin-half particles interacting with a thermalized oscillator environment is considered. We find that (a) amongst the collection of parametrized Hamiltonians, the larger the overlapping resonances contribution, the greater the maximum possible purity, and (b) for a fixed Hamiltonian, the larger the overlapping resonances contribution, the large…
The high resilience to de-coherence shown by a recently discovered Macroscopic Quantum Superposition (MQS) involving a number of photons in excess of 5 x 10^4 motivates the present theoretical and numerical investigation. The results are placed in close comparison with the properties of the well known MQS based on |alpha> states. The very critical decoherence properties of the latter MQS are found to be fully accounted for, in a direct a simple way, by a unique "universal" function: indeed a new property of the quantum "coherent states".
We propose two experimental schemes for producing coherent-state superpositions which approximate different nonclassical states conditionally in traveling optical fields. Although these setups are constructed of a small number of linear optical elements and homodyne measurements, they can be used to generate various photon number superpositions in which the number of constituent states can be higher than the number of measurements in the schemes. We determine numerically the parameters to achieve maximal fidelity of the preparation for a large variety of nonclassical states, such as amplitude …
Interferometric signals are degraded by decoherence, which encompasses dephasing, mixing and any distinguishing which-path information. These three paradigmatic processes are fundamentally different, but, for coherent, single-photon and $N00N$-states, they degrade interferometric visibility in the very same way, which impedes the diagnosis of the cause for reduced visibility in a single experiment. We introduce a versatile formalism for many-boson interferometry based on double-sided Feynman diagrams, which we apply to a protocol for differential decoherence diagnosis: Twin-Fock states |N,N> w…
We study a class of quantum measurement models. A microscopic object is entangled with a macroscopic pointer such that a distinct pointer position is tied to each eigenvalue of the measured object observable. Those different pointer positions mutually decohere under the influence of an environment. Overcoming limitations of previous approaches we (i) cope with initial correlations between pointer and environment by considering them initially in a metastable local thermal equilibrium, (ii) allow for object-pointer entanglement and environment-induced decoherence of distinct pointer readouts to …
Reducing decoherence is an essential step toward realizing general-purpose quantum computers beyond the present noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) computers. To this end, dynamical decoupling (DD) approaches in which external fields are applied to qubits are often adopted. We numerically study DD using a two-level model system (qubit) under the influence of Markovian decoherence by using quantum optimal control theory with slightly modified settings, in which the physical objective is to maximally create and maintain a specified superposition state in a specified control period. An optima…
We analyze collisional decoherence of atoms or molecules prepared in a coherent superposition of nondegenerate internal states at ultralow temperatures and placed in an ultracold buffer gas. Our analysis is applicable for an arbitrary bath particle/tracer particle mass ratio. Both elastic and inelastic collisions contribute to decoherence. We obtain an expression relating the observable decoherence rate to pairwise scattering properties, specifically the low-temperature scattering amplitudes. We consider the dependence on the bath particle/tracer particle mass ratio for the case of light bath …
Bell nonclassicality of a single photon superposition in two modes, often referred to as `nonlocality of a single photon', is one of the most striking nonclassical phenomena discussed in the context of foundations of quantum physics. Here we show how to robustly violate local realism within the weak-field homodyne measurement scheme for \textit{any} superposition of one photon with vacuum. Our modification of the previously proposed setups involves tunable beamsplitters at the measurement stations, and the local oscillator fields significantly varying between the settings, optimally being {\it…
Born rule is key to understanding quantum mechanics based on the probability amplitude for the measurement process of a physical quantity. Based on a typical particle nature of a photon, the quantum feature of photon bunching on a beam splitter between two output photons can be explained by Born rule even without clear definition of the relative phase between two input photons. Unlike conventional understanding on this matter, known as the Hong-Ou-Mandel effect, here, we present a new interpretation based on the wave nature of a photon, where the quantum feature of photon bunching is explained…
The high resilience to de-coherence shown by a recently discovered Macroscopic Quantum Superposition (MQS) generated by a quantum injected optical parametric amplifier (QI-OPA) and involving a number of photons in excess of 5x10^4 motivates the present theoretical and numerical investigation. The results are analyzed in comparison with the properties of the MQS based on coherent states and NOON states, in the perspective of the comprehensive theory of the subject by W.H.Zurek. In that perspective the concepts of "pointer state", "einselection" are applied to the new scheme.
The generation of nonclassical states of a radiation field has become increasingly important in the past years given its various applications in quantum communication. The feasibility of generating such nonclassical states has been established in several branches of physics such as cavity electrodynamics, trapped ions, quantum dots, atoms inside cavities and so on. In this sense, we will discuss the issue of the generation of nonclassical states in the context of a superconducting qubit in a microcavity. It has been recently proposed a way to engineer quantum states using a SQUID charge qubit …
The new process of quantum-injection into an optical parametric amplifier operating in entangled configuration is adopted to amplify into a large dimensionality spin 1/2 Hilbert space the quantum entanglement and superposition properties of the photon-couples generated by parametric down-conversion. The structure of the Wigner function and of the field's correlation functions shows a decoherence-free, multiphoton Schroedinger-cat behaviour of the emitted field which is largely detectable against the squeezed-vacuum noise. Furthermore, owing to its entanglement character, the system is found to…
In this paper we detail some results advanced in a recent letter [Prado et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 102 073008 (2009)] showing how to engineer reservoirs for two-level systems at absolute zero by means of a time-dependent master equation leading to a nonstationary superposition equilibrium state. We also present a general recipe showing how to build nonadiabatic coherent evolutions of a fermionic system interacting with a bosonic mode and investigate the influence of thermal reservoirs at finite temperature on the fidelity of the protected superposition state. Our analytical results are supported…
It is often asserted that quantum effects can be observed in coincidence detection rates or other correlations, but never in the rate of single-photon detection. We observe nonclassical interference in a singles rate, thanks to the intrinsic nonlinearity of photon counters. This is due to a dependence of the effective detection efficiency on the quantum statistics of the light beam. Such measurements of detector response to photon pairs promise to shed light on the microscopic aspects of silicon photodetectors, and on general issues of quantum measurement and decoherence.
By analyzing the optical tomogram of a linear superposition of coherent states, we show that distinctive signatures of the macroscopic superposition states are displayed directly in the optical tomograms of the states. We also study the effect of decoherence on the optical tomograms of the macroscopic superposition states. Since the wave packet fractional revivals are associated with the generation of macroscopic superposition states, these signatures help in visualizing the revivals and fractional revivals occurring in a nonlinear medium directly in the optical tomogram of the time-evolved st…
We investigate decoherence of quantum superpositions induced by gravitational time dilation and spontaneous emission between two atomic levels. It has been shown that gravitational time dilation can be an universal decoherence source. Here, we consider decoherence induced by gravitational time dilation only in the situation of spontaneous emission. Then, we obtain that the coherence of particle's position state depends on reference frame due to the time dilation changing the distinguishability of emission photon from two positions of particle. Changing the direction of light field can also res…
We investigate the time evolution of a superposition of macroscopically distinct quantum states in a system of two-level atoms interacting with a thermal environment of photon modes. We show that the atomic coherent states are robust against decoherence, therefore we call their superpositions atomic Schrödinger cat states. The initial fast regime of the time evolution is associated with the process of decoherence, and it is directed towards the statistical mixture of the constituent coherent states of the original state for most of the initial conditions. However, certain superpositions, calle…
We study a novel optical setup which is able to select a specific Fock component from a generic input state. The device allows to synthesize number states and superpositions of few number states, and to measure the photon distribution and the density matrix of a generic input signal.
It is known that a macroscopic quantum superposition (MQS), when it is exposed to environment, decoheres at a rate scaling with the separation of its component states in phase space. This is more or less consistent with the well known proposition that a more macroscopic quantum state is reduced more quickly to a classical state in general. Effects of initial mixedness, however, on the subsequent decoherence of MQSs have been less known. In this paper, we study the evolution of a highly mixed MQS interacting with an environment, and compare it with that of a pure MQS having the same size of the…
The generation of coherent superposition of distinct physical systems and the construction of robust entangled states under decoherence are the most experimental challenges of quantum technologies. In this work, we investigate the behaviors of catlike states of a deformed harmonic oscillator under dissipative decoherence. Varying the deformation parameters, we obtain catlike states having more resistance against decoherence than catlike states of the ordinary harmonic oscillator. Furthermore, we study nonclassical properties and entanglement of different catlike states subjects to decoherence …
We present controllable generation of various kinds of highly nonclassical states of light, including the single photon state and superposition states of mesoscopically distinct components. The high nonclassicality of the generated states is measured by the negativity of the Wigner function, which is largest ever observed to our knowledge. Our scheme is based on photon subtraction from a nearly pure squeezed vacuum, generated from an optical parametric oscillator with a periodically-poled KTiOPO$_4$ crystal as a nonlinear medium. This is an important step to realize basic elements of universal…
We present a simple scheme using two identical cross-phase modulation processes in decoherence environment to generate superpositions of two coherent states with the opposite phases, which are known as cat states. The scheme is shown to be robust against decoherence due to photon absorption losses and other errors, and the design of its experimental setup is also discussed.
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…
In this paper we discuss the quantum properties for superposition of squeezed displaced number states against multiphoton Jaynes-Cummings model (JCM). In particular, we investigate atomic inversion, photon-number distribution, purity, quadrature squeezing, Mandel $Q$ parameter and Wigner function. We show that the quadrature squeezing for three-photon absorption case can exhibit revivals and collapses typical to those occurring in the atomic inversion for one-photon absorption case. Also we prove that for odd number absorption parameter there is a connection between the evolution of the atomic…