We propose and experimentally realize a novel versatile protocol that allows the quantum state engineering of heralded optical coherent-state superpositions. This scheme relies on a two-mode squeezed state, linear mixing and a $n$-photon detection. It is optimally using expensive non-Gaussian resources to build up only the key non-Gaussian part of the targeted state. In the experimental case of a two-photon detection based on high-efficiency superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors, the freely propagating state exhibits a 67% fidelity with a squeezed even coherent-state superposition with a size $|α|^2$=3. The demonstrated procedure and the achieved rate will facilitate the use of such superpositions in subsequent protocols, including fundamental tests and optical hybrid quantum information implementations.
We propose a scheme for generating the superposition and the entanglement of squeezed vacuum states of electromagnetical fields. The scheme involves single-photon source, single photon detector, and cross Kerr nonlinearity. The Kerr nonlinearity required for generating the superposition of squeezed vacuum states is 1/2 of that required for generating the superposition of coherent states. The proposal can also be extended to generate the entanglement states between two coherent states and that between one coherent state and one squeezed vacuum state.
A quantum superposition of two coherent states of light with small amplitude can be obtained by subtracting a photon from a squeezed vacuum state. In experiments this preparation can be made conditioned on the detection of a photon in the field from a squeezed light source. We propose and analyze an extended measurement strategy which allows generation of high fidelity coherent state superpositions with larger amplitude.
A state in a d-dimensional Hilbert space can be simulated by a state defined in a different dimension with high fidelity. We assess how faithfully such the approximated state can perform quantum protocols, using an example of the squeezed coherent superposition state which was recently experimentally generated.
We propose a method to create two-mode squeezed states and their superposition in the center-of-mass mode and breathing mode of two-trapped ions. Each ion is illuminated simultaneously by two standing waves. One of the fields is tuned to excite resonantly and simultaneously both upper sidebands of the two normal modes, while the other field tuned to the corresponding lower sidebands.
This paper proposes a scheme for teleporting an arbitrary coherent superposition state of two equal-amplitude and opposite-phase squeezed vacuum states (SVS) via a symmetric 50/50 beam splitter and photodetectors. It is shown that the quantum teleportation scheme has the successful probability 1/4. Maximally entangled SVS's are used as quantum channel for realizing the teleportation scheme. It is shown that if an initial quantum channel is in a pure but not maximally entangled SVS, the quantum channel may be distilled to a maximally entangled SVS through entanglement concentration.
We show that a nonlinear asymmetric directional coupler composed of a linear waveguide and a nonlinear waveguide operating by nondegenerate parametric amplification is an effective source of single-mode squeezed light. This is has been demonstrated, under certain conditions and for specific modes, for incident coherent beams in terms of the quasiprobability functions, photon-number distribution and phase distribution.
Multiphoton heralding generates large-amplitude squeezed Schrödinger cat states and parity-selective Fock superpositions from squeezed vacuum via an OPA
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…
In this doctoral thesis we have studied the quantum properties of several models which have been classified as statical and dynamical systems. The first part has been devoted to investigate the properties of the statical models including the superposition of squeezed displaced number states with and without thermal noise. Also we have developed a new type of multidimensional squeeze operator including two different squeezing mechanisms. In the second part the dynamical models were given to show the interaction between modes in the nonlinear optical coupler.
We propose an efficient approach to generate the superposed macroscopically squeezed states with enhanced squeezing in a two-mode optomechanical system. This can be achieved by introducing a sinusoidal modulation to either the cavity frequencies or the coupling strengths between two cavity modes. The squeezement of the oscillator can be significantly enhanced to 12.16 dB with single photon, once the relative ratio of coupling strength is optimized under proper conditions. Further enhanced squeezing can be obtained by carefully adjusting the system parameters. In terms of the Wigner quasi-proba…
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 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…
In this paper, we study some quantum properties of a superposition of displaced squeezed two-mode vacuum and single-photon states, such as the second-order correlation function, the Cauchy-Schwartz inequality, quadrature squeezing, quasiprobability distribution functions and purity. This type of states includes two mechanisms, namely, interference in phase space and entanglement. We show that these states can exhibit sub-Piossonian statistics, squeezing and deviate from the classical Cauchy-Schwartz inequality. Moreover, the amount of entanglement in the system can be increased by increasing t…
The two-mode even and odd coherent states and two-mode squeezed correlated state are discussed. Photon distribution functions, means, dispersions, Fano factor for even and odd coherent states and squeezed correlated state are calculated. The photon distribution function for two-mode squeezed correlated state is obtained. The tomograms of two-mode even and odd coherent states and squeezed correlated states are investigated within the framework of a symplectic tomography scheme. It is shown that the phenomenon of entanglement appears in the system. Two different measures of entanglement are empl…
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…
We investigate superpositions of two-mode squeezed states (TMSSs), which have potential applications to quantum information processing and quantum sensing. Firstly we study some properties of these nonclassical states such as the statistics of each mode and the degree of entanglement between the two modes, which can be higher than that of a TMSS with the same degree of squeezing. The states we consider can be prepared by inducing two-mode Jaynes-Cummings and anti-Jaynes-Cummings interactions in a system of two modes and a spin-$\tfrac{1}{2}$ particle, for instance in the trapped ion domain, as…
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.
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）
We present the generation of approximated coherent state superpositions - referred to as Schrödinger cat states - by the process of subtracting single photons from picosecond pulsed squeezed states of light at 830 nm. The squeezed vacuum states are produced by spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in a periodically poled KTiOPO4 crystal while the single photons are probabilistically subtracted using a beamsplitter and a single photon detector. The resulting states are fully characterized with time-resolved homodyne quantum state tomography. Varying the pump power of the SPDC, we genera…
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 …
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 …
In this paper at first we successfully teleport the unknown quantum state which is a superposition of squeezed vacuum state and squeezed one-photon state using the beam splitter in the absence of dissipation. In the continuation, we try to implement the same teleportation protocol, however, in the presence of dissipation effects. To do this task, we use proper entangled channel to reach to perfect teleportation under the in uence of decoherence. Finally, we consider another superposition of two squeezed vacuum states with separation in phase and teleport it with a different appropriate entangl…
In recent years, there has been an increased interest in the generation of superposition of coherent states with opposite phases, the so-called photonic Schrodinger-cat states. These experiments are very challenging and so far, cats involving small photon numbers only have been implemented. Here, we propose to consider two-mode squeezed states as examples of a Schrodinger-cat-like state. In particular, we are interested in several criteria aiming to identify quantum states that are macroscopic superpositions in a more general sense. We show how these criteria can be extended to continuous vari…
Many non-classicality indicators are used to measure quantum effects of different systems. Kenfack's and Sadeghi's non-classicality indicators are introduced in terms of the amount of Wigner function's negativities and interferences in phase space quantum mechanics, respectively. They are, effectively, applied for some real distribution functions. In this paper, we compared these non-classicality indicators for the entangled state of photonic number states in the Wigner, Husimi and Rivier representations. It is shown that for a two-level entangled state, Sadeghi's indicator has more benefits w…
Bosonic quantum codes redundantly encode quantum information in the states of a quantum harmonic oscillator, making it possible to detect and correct errors. Schrödinger cat codes -- based on the superposition of two coherent states with opposite displacements -- can correct phase-flip errors induced by dephasing, but they are vulnerable to bit-flip errors induced by particle loss. Here, we develop a bosonic quantum code relying on squeezed cat states, i.e. cat states made of a linear superposition of displaced-squeezed states. Squeezed cat states allow to partially correct errors caused by pa…
We investigate the presence of spin- and planar- squeezing in generalized superpositions of atomic (or spin) coherent states (ACS). Spin-squeezing has been shown to be a useful tool in determining the presence of entanglement in multipartite systems, such as collections of two-level atoms, as well as being an indication of reduced projection noise and sub-shot-noise limited phase uncertainty in Ramsey spectroscopy, suitable for measuring phases $ϕ\sim 0$. On the other hand, planar-squeezed states display reduced projection noise in two directions simultaneously and have been shown to lead to e…
We show that the two-axis counter twisting interaction squeezes a coherent spin state into three states of interest in quantum information, namely, the twin-Fock state, the equally-weighted superposition state, and the state that achieves the Heisenberg limit of optimal sensitivity defined by the Cramer-Rao inequality in addition to the well-known Heisenberg-limited state of spin fluctuations.
We show how to generate bilinear (quadratic) Hamiltonians in cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) through the interaction of a single driven three-level atom with two (one) cavity modes. With this scheme it is possible to generate one-mode mesoscopic squeezed superpositions, two-mode entanglements, and two-mode squeezed vacuum states (such the original EPR state), without the need for Ramsey zones and external parametric amplification. The degree of squeezing achieved is up to 99% with currently feasible experimental parameters and the errors due to dissipative mechanisms become practically ne…
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 propose a scheme for the generation and reconstruction of entangled states between the internal and external (motional) degrees of freedom of a trapped electron. Such states also exhibit quantum coherence at a mesoscopic level.
We present a proposal for the production of longer-lived mesoscopic superpositions which relies on two requirements: parametric amplification and squeezed vacuum reservoir for cavity-field states. Our proposal involves the interaction of a two-level atom with a cavity field which is simultaneously subjected to amplification processes.
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 study the generation of superpositions of N00N states by overlapping few-photon-subtracted squeezed vacuum states and coherent states on a 50/50 beam splitter. Assuming parameters that are feasible with current technology results in output states with mean photon numbers of several tens. We show that the generated quantum states violate local realism even in the presence of considerable loss. The occurrence of strong quantum correlations for mesoscopic quantum states of light is particularly beneficial for coupling light and matter quantum systems.
A new class of states of light is introduced that is complementary to the well-known squeezed states. The construction is based on the general solution of the three-term recurrence relation that arises from the saturation of the Schrödinger inequality for the quadratures of a single-mode quantized electromagnetic field. The new squeezed states are found to be linear superpositions of the photon-number states whose coefficients are determined by the associated Hermite polynomials. These results do not seem to have been noticed before in the literature. As an example, the new class of squeezed s…
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 firstly present an all-optical scheme to implement the non-deterministic quantum logic operation of Knill, Laflamme and Milburn (Nature, 409, 46-52(2001)). In our scheme, squeezed vacuum state is acted as auxiliary state instead of single photon resources. Then we demonstrate that same setup can be used to teleport a superposition of vacuum and single photon state of the form $α|0>+β|1>$ and a superposition of vacuum and single polarized photon state of the form $α|0>+β|H>+γ|V>$.
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.
We study the use of squeezed light for qubit coherent control and compare it with the coherent state control field case. We calculate the entanglement between a short pulse of resonant squeezed light and a two-level atom in free space and the resulting operation error. We find that the squeezing phase, the phase of the light field and the atomic superposition phase, all determine whether atom-pulse mode entanglement and the gate error are enhanced or suppressed. However, when averaged over all possible qubit initial states, the gate error would not decrease by a practicably useful amount and w…
We investigate the utility of non classical states of simple harmonic oscillators, particularly a superposition of coherent states, for sensitive force detection. We find that like squeezed states a superposition of coherent states allows displacement measurements at the Heisenberg limit. Entangling many superpositions of coherent states offers a significant advantage over a single mode superposition states with the same mean photon number.
The preparation of mesoscopic states of the radiation and matter fields through atom-field interactions has been achieved in recent years and employed for a range of striking applications in quantum optics. Here we present a technique for the preparation and control of a cavity mode which, besides interacting with a two-level atom, is simultaneously submitted to linear and parametric amplification processes. The role of the amplification-controlling fields in the achievement of real mesoscopic states, is to produce highly-squeezed field states and, consequently, to increase both: i) the distan…
We develop an all-optical scheme to generate superpositions of macroscopically distinguishable coherent states in traveling optical fields. It non-deterministically distills coherent state superpositions (CSSs) with large amplitudes out of CSSs with small amplitudes using inefficient photon detection. The small CSSs required to produce CSSs with larger amplitudes are extremely well approximated by squeezed single photons. We discuss some remarkable features of this scheme: it effectively purifies mixed initial states emitted from inefficient single photon sources and boosts negativity of Wigne…
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…
Continuous-variable codes are an expedient solution for quantum information processing and quantum communication involving optical networks. Here we characterize the squeezed comb, a finite superposition of equidistant squeezed coherent states on a line, and its properties as a continuous-variable encoding choice for a logical qubit. The squeezed comb is a realistic approximation to the ideal code proposed by Gottesman, Kitaev, and Preskill [Phys. Rev. A 64, 012310 (2001)], which is fully protected against errors caused by the paradigmatic types of quantum noise in continuous-variable systems:…
The quantum Rabi model accepts analytical solutions in the so-called degenerate qubit and relativistic regimes with discrete and continuous spectrum, in that order.We show that solutions in the laboratory frame are the superposition of even and odd displaced number states, in the former, and infinitely squeezed coherent states, in the latter, of the boson field correlated to the internal states of the qubit. We propose a single parameter model that interpolates between these discrete and continuous spectrum regimes to study the spectral statistics for first and second neighbor differences befo…
We study the dynamical generation and storage of spin squeezed states, as well as more entangled states up to macroscopic superpositions, in a system composed of a few ultra-cold atoms trapped in a one-dimensional optical lattice. The system, initially in the superfluid phase with each atom in a superposition of two internal states, is first dynamically entangled by atom-atom interactions then adiabatically brought to the Mott-insulator phase with one atom per site where the quantum correlations are stored. Exact numerical diagonalization allows us to explore the structure of the stored states…
We report a scheme for generation of high-order vortex states using two-mode photon-number squeezed states, generated via the non-linear process of Spontaneous Parametric Down Conversion. By applying a parametric rotation in quadrature space $(X,Y)$, using a $ϕ$ converter, the Gaussian quadrature profile of the photon-number squeezed input state can be mapped into a superposition of Laguerre-Gauss modes with $N$ vortices or singularities, for an input state containing $N$ photons, thus mapping photon-number fluctuations to interference effects in quadrature space. Our scheme has the potential …
We investigate the utility of non classical states of simple harmonic oscillators (a superposition of coherent states) for sensitive force detection. We find that like squeezed states a superposition of coherent states allows the detection of displacement measurements at the Heisenberg limit. Entangling many superpositions of coherent states offers a significant advantage over a single mode superposition states with the same mean photon number.
