Light: From Schrödinger's cat to quantum computers

Benichi, 『 Takeda, Lee +4 more

David J. Wineland, Christopher R. Monroe, Wayne M. Itano +5 more

Taoufik Amri, Julien Laurat, Claude Fabre

We show how the retrodictive approach of quantum physics allows to study detectors of strongly non-classical states of light, such as “Schrödinger’s Cat” states of light, which can be useful for quantum metrology.

Matthew Pysher

Shahab Ramezanpour

Strong laser-atom interactions can produce highly non-classical states of light by using the process of high-harmonic generation in atoms. When the high-harmonic generation is present, the quantum state of the fundamental mode following the interaction is known as the Schrödinger cat state, which is a superposition of the laser's initial coherent state and the coherent state with a smaller amplitude that results from its interaction with atoms. Here, we demonstrate that new light states with significantly different Wigner function distributions can be produced by combining two separate Schrödinger cat states. Through the engineering of Schrödinger cat states' parameters, we are able to produce Wigner functions that exhibit high sensitivity in relation to the system parameter. Our research paves the way for the creation of non-classical light by superposing Schrödinger cat states with application in such as quantum sensing.