Efficient optical cat state generation using squeezed few-photon superposition states

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Luo, Haoyuan, Mahmoodian, Sahand
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Luo, Haoyuan
Mahmoodian, Sahand
author_facet Luo, Haoyuan
Mahmoodian, Sahand
contents Optical Schrödinger cat states are non-Gaussian states with applications in quantum technologies, such as for building error-correcting states in quantum computing. Yet the efficient generation of high-fidelity optical Schrödinger cat states is an outstanding problem in quantum optics. Here, we propose using squeezed superpositions of zero and two photons, $|θ\rangle = \cos{(θ/2)}|0\rangle + \sin{(θ/2)}|2\rangle$, as ingredients for protocols to efficiently generate high-fidelity cat states. We present a protocol using linear optics with success probability $P\gtrsim 50\%$ that can generate cat states of size $|α|^2=5$ with fidelity $F>0.99$. The protocol relies only on detecting single photons and is remarkably tolerant of loss, with $2\%$ detection loss still achieving $F>0.98$ for cats with $|α|^2=5$. We also show that squeezed $θ$ states are ideal candidates for nonlinear photon subtraction using a two-level system with near deterministic success probability and fidelity $F>0.98$ for cat states of size $|α|^2=5$. Schemes for generating $θ$ states using quantum emitters are also presented. Our protocols can be implemented with current state-of-the-art quantum optics experiments.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_14798
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Efficient optical cat state generation using squeezed few-photon superposition states
Luo, Haoyuan
Mahmoodian, Sahand
Quantum Physics
Optical Schrödinger cat states are non-Gaussian states with applications in quantum technologies, such as for building error-correcting states in quantum computing. Yet the efficient generation of high-fidelity optical Schrödinger cat states is an outstanding problem in quantum optics. Here, we propose using squeezed superpositions of zero and two photons, $|θ\rangle = \cos{(θ/2)}|0\rangle + \sin{(θ/2)}|2\rangle$, as ingredients for protocols to efficiently generate high-fidelity cat states. We present a protocol using linear optics with success probability $P\gtrsim 50\%$ that can generate cat states of size $|α|^2=5$ with fidelity $F>0.99$. The protocol relies only on detecting single photons and is remarkably tolerant of loss, with $2\%$ detection loss still achieving $F>0.98$ for cats with $|α|^2=5$. We also show that squeezed $θ$ states are ideal candidates for nonlinear photon subtraction using a two-level system with near deterministic success probability and fidelity $F>0.98$ for cat states of size $|α|^2=5$. Schemes for generating $θ$ states using quantum emitters are also presented. Our protocols can be implemented with current state-of-the-art quantum optics experiments.
title Efficient optical cat state generation using squeezed few-photon superposition states
topic Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.14798