Generation of mesoscopic quantum superpositions through Kerr-stimulated degenerate downconversion
Matteo G A Paris; Matteo G A Paris; Theoretical Quantum Optics Group, INFM and Dipartimento di Fisica `Alessandro Volta', Università di Pavia, via Bassi 6, I-27100 Pavia, Italy and Optics Section, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BZ, UK
Журнал:
Journal of Optics B: Quantum and Semiclassical Optics
Дата:
1999-12-01
Аннотация:
A two-step interaction scheme involving <sup>(2)</sup> and <sup>(3)</sup> nonlinear media is suggested for the generation of Schrödinger cat-like states of a single-mode optical field. In the first step, a weak coherent signal undergoes a self-Kerr phase modulation in a <sup>(3)</sup> crystal, leading to a Kerr kitten, namely a microscopic superposition of two coherent states with opposite phases. In the second step, such a Kerr kitten enters a <sup>(2)</sup> crystal and, in turn, plays the role of a quantum seed for stimulated phase-sensitive amplification. The output state in the above-threshold regime consists in a quantum superposition of mesoscopically distinguishable squeezed states, i.e. an optical cat-like state. The whole setup does not rely on conditional measurements, and is robust against decoherence, as only weak signals interact with the Kerr medium.
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