Conditional preparation is a well-established technique for quantum state engineering of light. A general trend is to increase the number of heralding detection events in such a realization to reach larger photon-number states or their arbitrary superpositions. In contrast to pulsed implementations, where detections only occur within the pulse window, for continuous-wave light the temporal separation of the conditioning detections is an additional degree of freedom and a critical parameter. Based on a theoretical study by Nielsen and M\o{}lmer [A. E. B. Nielsen and K. M\o{}lmer, Phys. Rev. A 75, 043801 (2007)] and on a continuous-wave two-mode squeezed vacuum from a nondegenerate optical parametric oscillator, we experimentally investigate the generation of two-photon state with tunable delay between the heralding events. The present work illustrates the temporal multimode features in play for conditional state generation based on continuous-wave light sources and quantifies the compromise between preparation rate and fidelity in this scenario.
Conditional preparation is a well-established technique for quantum state engineering of light. A general trend is to increase the number of heralding detection events in such a realization to reach larger photon-number states or their arbitrary superpositions. In contrast to pulsed implementations, where detections only occur within the pulse window, for continuous-wave light the temporal separation of the conditioning detections is an additional degree of freedom and a critical parameter. Based on a theoretical study by Nielsen and M\o{}lmer [A. E. B. Nielsen and K. M\o{}lmer, Phys. Rev. A 75, 043801 (2007)] and on a continuous-wave two-mode squeezed vacuum from a nondegenerate optical parametric oscillator, we experimentally investigate the generation of two-photon state with tunable delay between the heralding events. The present work illustrates the temporal multimode features in play for conditional state generation based on continuous-wave light sources and quantifies the compromise between preparation rate and fidelity in this scenario.
Engineering non-classical states of the electromagnetic field is a central quest for quantum optics(1,2). Beyond their fundamental significance, such states are indeed the resources for implementing various protocols, ranging from enhanced metrology to quantum communication and computing. A variety of devices can be used to generate non-classical states, such as single emitters, light-matter interfaces or non-linear systems(3). We focus here on the use of a continuous-wave optical parametric oscillator(3,4). This system is based on a non-linear χ(2) crystal inserted inside an optical cavity and it is now well-known as a very efficient source of non-classical light, such as single-mode or two-mode squeezed vacuum depending on the crystal phase matching. Squeezed vacuum is a Gaussian state as its quadrature distributions follow a Gaussian statistics. However, it has been shown that number of protocols require non-Gaussian states(5). Generating directly such states is a difficult task and would require strong χ(3) non-linearities. Another procedure, probabilistic but heralded, consists in using a measurement-induced non-linearity via a conditional preparation technique operated on Gaussian states. Here, we detail this generation protocol for two non-Gaussian states, the single-photon state and a superposition of coherent states, using two differently phase-matched parametric oscillators as primary resources. This technique enables achievement of a high fidelity with the targeted state and generation of the state in a well-controlled spatiotemporal mode.
Engineering non-classical states of the electromagnetic field is a central quest for quantum optics1,2. Beyond their fundamental significance, such states are indeed the resources for implementing various protocols, ranging from enhanced metrology to quantum communication and computing. A variety of devices can be used to generate non-classical states, such as single emitters, light-matter interfaces or non-linear systems3. We focus here on the use of a continuous-wave optical parametric oscillator3,4. This system is based on a non-linear χ2 crystal inserted inside an optical cavity and it is now well-known as a very efficient source of non-classical light, such as single-mode or two-mode squeezed vacuum depending on the crystal phase matching. Squeezed vacuum is a Gaussian state as its quadrature distributions follow a Gaussian statistics. However, it has been shown that number of protocols require non-Gaussian states5. Generating directly such states is a difficult task and would require strong χ3 non-linearities. Another procedure, probabilistic but heralded, consists in using a measurement-induced non-linearity via a conditional preparation technique operated on Gaussian states. Here, we detail this generation protocol for two non-Gaussian states, the single-photon state and a superposition of coherent states, using two differently phase-matched parametric oscillators as primary resources. This technique enables achievement of a high fidelity with the targeted state and generation of the state in a well-controlled spatiotemporal mode.
Generation of highly non-classical quantum states of light is essential for optical quantum information processing and quantum metrology. Given the lack of sufficiently strong nonlinear interactions between optical fields, the commonly employed optical quantum-state preparation schemes are conditional, based on nonlinearity induced by heralding photon number measurement on a part of a multimode squeezed Gaussian state. Development and optimization of such probabilistic quantum-state engineering schemes represents one of the central challenges in current quantum optics. As technology advances and experiments progress to detection of higher numbers of photons, the maximization of the heralding probability becomes essential to ensure sufficiently high state-preparation rates. Here, we show that for the conditional quantum state preparation schemes based on Gaussian states and photon number measurements the maximization of the heralding probability can be formulated as finding solution to a system of polynomial equations, which offers an efficient way to find the optimal configuration and allows us to apply techniques dedicated specifically to solving such systems of equations. Our approach can seamlessly incorporate bounds on the available single-mode quadrature squeezing, which is highly experimentally relevant. We mainly consider generation of finite superpositions of Fock states but show that the approach can be straightforwardly extended to generation of squeezed superpositions of Fock states. We focus on Gaussian states with vanishing coherent displacements, hence the conditionally generated states have well defined photon number parity. We illustrate our general methodology through examples of generation of single-mode states with two and three heralding modes, and generation of two-mode states with two heralding modes.
Summary form only given. The ability to engineer various quantum states of light is a central requirement for quantum information processing, including quantum communication, computing and metrology. In this endeavor, many experiments use the so-called conditional preparation technique. The dynamic of the heralded states, i.e. its temporal mode, mainly depends on the setup and has been studied theoretically with different strategies [1,2]. However, it remains difficult to extract the optimal mode with a precise description of the experimental setup: it requires very often some additional assumptions. This is why it is important to characterize experimentally the dynamic of the generated states as it might improve the fidelity of the generated state.
A theoretical analysis is given for a two-photon subtraction from a continuous-wave squeezed vacuum with finite time separation between two detection events. In the cw photon subtraction process, generated states are inevitably described by temporal multimode states. Our approach is based on analytical formulas that are mathematically simple and provide an intuitive understanding of the multimode structure of the system. We show that, in our process, the photon-subtracted squeezed vacuum is generated in two temporal modes and one of these modes acts as an ancillary mode to make the other one a large-amplitude coherent-state superposition.
Conditional preparation of two-photon states from a continuous wave non-degenerate optical parametric oscillator is investigated. We derive the phase space Wigner function for the output state conditioned on two nearby photo detection events, and we maximize its overlap with a two-photon state by varying the temporal output state mode function. In the low intensity limit, we generalize to n-photon state production. We find a simple expression for the conditional output, and from this we determine the optimal output state mode function and n-photon state fidelity.