Algorithm of quantum engineering of large-amplitude high-fidelity Schrödinger cat states

Abstract

AbstractWe present an algorithm of quantum engineering of large-amplitude $$\ge 5$$ ≥ 5 high-fidelity $$\ge 0.99$$ ≥ 0.99 even/odd Schrödinger cat states (SCSs) using a single mode squeezed vacuum (SMSV) state as resource. Set of $$k$$ k beam splitters (BSs) with arbitrary transmittance and reflectance coefficients sequentially following each other acts as a hub that redirects a multiphoton state into the measuring modes simultaneously measured by photon number resolving (PNR) detectors. We show that the multiphoton state splitting guarantees significant increase of the success probability of the SCSs generator compared to its implementation in a single PNR detector version and imposes less requirements on ideal PNR detectors. We prove that the fidelity of the output SCSs and its success probability are in conflict with each other (which can be quantified) in a scheme with ineffective PNR detectors, especially when subtracting large (say, $$100$$ 100 ) number of photons, i.e., increasing the fidelity to perfect values leads to a sharp decrease in the success probability. In general, the strategy of subtracting up to $$20$$ 20 photons from initial SMSV in setup with two BSs is acceptable for achieving sufficiently high values of the fidelity and success probability at the output of the generator of the SCSs of amplitude $$\le 3$$ ≤ 3 with two inefficient PNR detectors.