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arXiv:1012.3008 · Physical Review A

Nondeterministic amplifier for two-photon superpositions

John Jeffers

Published Dec 23, 2010• 25 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We examine heralded nondeterministic noiseless amplification based on the quantum scissors device, which has been shown to increase the one-photon amplitude of a state at the expense of the vacuum-state amplitude. Here we propose using the same basic design to perform perfect amplification in a basis set of up to two photons. The device is much more efficient than several one-photon amplifiers working in tandem. When used to amplify coherent states this advantage is shown either using fidelity or in terms of probability of successful action, or more strikingly in a combination of the two.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.82.063828

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We examine heralded nondeterministic noiseless amplification based on the quantum scissors device, which has been shown to increase the one-photon amplitude of a state at the expense of the vacuum-state amplitude. Here we propose using the same basic design to perform perfect amplification in a basis set of up to two photons. The device is much more efficient than several one-photon amplifiers working in tandem. When used to amplify coherent states this advantage is shown either using fidelity or in terms of probability of successful action, or more strikingly in a combination of the two.
We suggest and investigate a scheme for non-deterministic noiseless linear amplification of coherent states using successive photon addition, (â(†))(2), where â(†) is the photon creation operator. We compare it with a previous proposal using the photon addition-then-subtraction, ââ(†), where â is the photon annihilation operator, that works as an appropriate amplifier only for weak light fields. We show that when the amplitude of a coherent state is |α| ≳ 0.91, the (â(†))(2) operation serves as a more efficient amplifier compared to the ââ(†) operation in terms of equivalent input noise. Using ââ(†) and (â(†))(2) as basic building blocks, we compare combinatorial amplifications of coherent states using (ââ(†))(2), â(†4), ââ(†)â(†2), and â(†2)ââ(†), and show that (ââ(†))(2), â(†2)ââ(†), and â(†4) exhibit strongest noiseless properties for |α| ≲ 0.51, 0.51 ≲ |α| ≲ 1.05, and |α| ≳ 1.05, respectively. We further show that the (â(†))(2) operation can be useful for amplifying superpositions of the coherent states. In contrast to previous studies, our work provides efficient schemes to implement a noiseless amplifier for light fields with medium and large amplitudes.
A noiseless linear amplifier (NLA) can probabilistically amplify an optical state without the noise required by deterministic phase-insensitive amplification. We study a hybrid amplifier in which a finite-cutoff quantum-scissor NLA is placed between two single-mode squeezers. Analysis based on an ideal (infinite cutoff) NLA finds a gain enhancement from the squeezing. We explore the physics of this enhancement as the cutoff of the quantum scissors is increased. The low-cutoff sequence shows how this gain enhancement emerges from the truncated Fock space. Cutoff 3 is the lowest order at which the additional even- and odd-photon components can both contribute to gain enhancement, albeit with some skewing of the coefficients which reduces the fidelity. As the cutoff is increased the fidelity improves. However, unlike the ideal transformation, the finite-cutoff device depends on the phase of the coherent amplitude relative to the squeezing axes, with states aligned with the anti-squeezing requiring higher cutoffs to achieve high fidelity. We track behavior to high cutoffs and eventually see the performance predicted in the ideal theory emerge.
We generalize the concept of optical state truncation and noiseless linear amplification to enable truncation of the Fock-state expansion of an optical state to higher order and to simultaneously amplify it using linear optics. The resulting generalized quantum scissors are more efficient for noiseless linear amplification than employing multiple scissors in parallel and are experimentally practical. As a particular example, we focus on a third-order scissor device and demonstrate advantages in terms of fidelity with the target state, probability of success, distillable entanglement, and the amount of non-Gaussianity introduced.
Quantum mechanics imposes that any amplifier that works independently on the phase of the input signal has to introduce some excess noise. The impossibility of such a noiseless amplifier is rooted in the unitarity and linearity of quantum evolution. A possible way to circumvent this limitation is to interrupt such evolution via a measurement, providing a random outcome able to herald a successful-and noiseless-amplification event. Here we show a successful realization of such an approach; we perform a full characterization of an amplified coherent state using quantum homodyne tomography, and observe a strong heralded amplification, with about a 6 dB gain and a noise level significantly smaller than the minimal allowed for any ordinary phase-independent device.
We present an experimental demonstration of a practical nondeterministic quantum optical amplification scheme that employs two mature technologies, state comparison and photon subtraction, to achieve amplification of known sets of coherent states with high fidelity. The amplifier uses coherent states as a resource rather than single photons, which allows for a relatively simple light source, such as a diode laser, providing an increased rate of amplification. The amplifier is not restricted to low amplitude states. With respect to the two key parameters, fidelity and the amplified state production rate, we demonstrate significant improvements over previous experimental implementations, without the requirement of complex photonic components. Such a system may form the basis of trusted quantum repeaters in nonentanglement-based quantum communications systems with known phase alphabets, such as quantum key distribution or quantum digital signatures.