We present a method for the direct measurement of the Wigner characteristic function of a thermalizing harmonic oscillator that is completely inaccessible for control or measurement. The strategy employs a recently proposed probe-measurement-based scheme [Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 110406 (2019)] which relies on the pulsed control of a two-level probe. We generalize this scheme to the case of a nonunitary time evolution of the target harmonic oscillator, describing its thermalization through contact to a finite-temperature environment, given in the form of a Lindblad master equation. This generalization is achieved using a superoperator formalism and yields analytical expressions for the direct measurement of the characteristic function, accounting for the decoherence during the measurement process.
Feasible setup for pulsed quantum non-demolition interaction between two distant mechanical oscillators through optical or microwave mediator is proposed. The proposal uses homodyne measurement of the mediator and feedforward control of the mechanical oscillators to reach the interaction. To verify quantum nature of the interaction, we investigate the Gaussian entanglement generated in the mechanical modes. We evaluate it under influence of mechanical bath and propagation loss for the mediator and propose ways to optimize the interaction. Finally, both currently available optomechanical and el…
A strategy for generating entanglement in two separated optomechanical oscillators is analysed, using entangled radiation produced from downconversion and stored in an initiating cavity. We show that the use of pulsed entanglement with optimally shaped temporal modes can efficiently transfer quantum entanglement into a mechanical mode, then remove it after a fixed waiting time for measurement. This protocol could provide new avenues to test for bounds on decoherence in massive systems that are spatially separated, as originally suggested by Wendell Furry [1] not long after the discussion by Ei…
Quantum correlations and fluctuations in the pulsed light produced by a synchronously pumped optical parametric oscillator below its oscillation threshold
We prove feasibility of high-fidelity pulsed optomechanical interface based on all-optical presqueezing of non-Gaussian quantum states of light before they enter the optomechanical system. We demonstrate that feasible presqueezing of optical states effectively increases the low noise transfer of them to mechanical oscillator. It allows one to surpass the limit necessary to transfer highly nonclassical states with negative Wigner function. In particular, we verify that with this help single photon states of light can be efficiently turned to single phonon states of mechanical oscillator, keepin…
Mesoscopic mechanical oscillators can be prepared in quantum states and coherently manipulated using the optomechanical interaction. This has recently been used to prepare squeezed mechanical states. However, the scheme used in these experiments relies on slow, dissipative evolution that destroys the system's memory of its initial state. In this paper we propose a protocol based on a sequence of four pulsed optomechanical interactions. In addition to being coherent, our scheme executes in a time much shorter than a mechanical period. We analyse applications in impulsive force sensing and prese…
We propose a novel strategy to reconstruct the quantum state of dark systems, i.e., degrees of freedom that are not directly accessible for measurement or control. Our scheme relies on the quantum control of a two-level probe that exerts a state-dependent potential on the dark system. Using a sequence of control pulses applied to the probe makes it possible to tailor the information one can obtain and, for example, allows us to reconstruct the density operator of a dark spin as well as the Wigner characteristic function of a harmonic oscillator. Because of the symmetry of the applied pulse seq…
We show that the interaction of a pulsed laser light with a mechanical oscillator through the radiation pressure results in an opto-mechanical entangled state in which the photon number is correlated with the oscillator position. Interestingly, the mechanical oscillator can be delocalized over a large range of positions when driven by an intense laser light. This provides a simple yet sensitive method to probe hypothetic post-quantum theories including an explicit wave function collapse model, like the Diosi and Penrose model. We propose an entanglement witness to reveal the quantum nature of …
Quantified convergence of general homodyne measurements with applications to continuous variable quantum computing
National Institute of Standards and Technology（美国国家标准与技术研究院）；University of Colorado, Boulder（科罗拉多大学博尔德分校）；Center for Theory of Quantum Matter, University of Colorado, Boulder（科罗拉多大学博尔德分校量子物质理论中心）；Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder（科罗拉多大学博尔德分校物理系）；IonQ
Through simultaneous but unequal electromechanical amplification and cooling processes, we create a method for nearly noiseless pulsed measurement of mechanical motion. We use transient electromechanical amplification (TEA) to monitor a single motional quadrature with a total added noise $-8.5\pm2.0$ dB relative to the zero-point motion of the oscillator, or equivalently the quantum limit for simultaneous measurement of both mechanical quadratures. We demonstrate that TEA can be used to resolve fine structure in the phase-space of a mechanical oscillator by tomographically reconstructing the d…
Cavity quantum optomechanics has emerged as a new platform for quantum science and technology with applications ranging from quantum-information processing to tests of the foundations of physics. Of crucial importance for optomechanics is the generation and verification of non-Gaussian states of motion and a key outstanding challenge is the observation of a canonical two-mode Schrödinger-cat state in the displacement of two mechanical oscillators. In this work, we introduce a pulsed approach that utilizes the nonlinearity of the radiation-pressure interaction combined with photon-counting meas…
We present a novel proposal for generating quantum superpositions of macroscopically distinct states of a bulk mechanical oscillator, compatible with existing optomechanical devices operating in the readily achievable bad-cavity limit. The scheme is based on a pulsed cavity optomechanical quantum non-demolition (QND) interaction, driven by displaced non-Gaussian states, and measurement-induced feedback, avoiding the need for strong single-photon optomechanical coupling. Furthermore, we show that single-quadrature cooling of the mechanical oscillator is sufficient for efficient state preparatio…
Broadly speaking, this thesis is about nonlinear optics, quantum mechanics, and computing. More specifically, it covers four main topics: Coherent LQG Control, Free-Carrier Oscillations, Optical Ising Machines and Pulsed OPO Dynamics. Tying them all together is a theory of open quantum systems called the SLH model, which I introduce in Chapters 1-2. The SLH model is a general framework for open quantum systems that interact through bosonic fields, and is the basis for the quantum circuit theory developed in the text. Coherent LQG control is discussed in Chapters 3-4, where I demonstrate that c…
