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Hybrid systems for the dissipative preparation of mechanical Schr\"odinger cats

Carlos Sánchez Muñoz, Antonio Lara, Jorge Puebla, Franco Nori

Published Feb 5, 2018• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

We present a method to implement two-phonon interactions between mechanical resonators and spin qubits in hybrid setups, and show that these systems can be applied for the dissipative generation of nonclassical mechanical states. In particular, we demonstrate that the implementation a two-phonon Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian under coherent driving of the qubit yields a dissipative phase transition with similarities to the one predicted in the model of the degenerate parametric oscillator: beyond a certain threshold in the driving amplitude, the driven-dissipative system sustains a steady state consisting of a jumping cat, i.e., a Schr\odinger cat undergoing random jumps between two phases. We consider realistic setups and show that, in samples within reach of current technology, the low rate at which jumps between Schr\odinger cat states occur allows these to survive with fidelities $>0.99$ for longer than one milisecond, without the need of any particular protocol or preparation.

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We present a method to implement two-phonon interactions between mechanical resonators and spin qubits in hybrid setups, and show that these systems can be applied for the dissipative generation of nonclassical mechanical states. In particular, we demonstrate that the implementation a two-phonon Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian under coherent driving of the qubit yields a dissipative phase transition with similarities to the one predicted in the model of the degenerate parametric oscillator: beyond a certain threshold in the driving amplitude, the driven-dissipative system sustains a steady state consisting of a jumping cat, i.e., a Schr\odinger cat undergoing random jumps between two phases. We consider realistic setups and show that, in samples within reach of current technology, the low rate at which jumps between Schr\odinger cat states occur allows these to survive with fidelities >0.99>0.99>0.99 for longer than one milisecond, without the need of any particular protocol or preparation.
We present a method to implement two-phonon interactions between mechanical resonators and spin qubits in hybrid setups, and show that these systems can be applied for the generation of nonclassical mechanical states even in the presence of dissipation. In particular, we demonstrate that the implementation of a two-phonon Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian under coherent driving of the qubit yields a dissipative phase transition with similarities to the one predicted in the model of the degenerate parametric oscillator: beyond a certain threshold in the driving amplitude, the driven-dissipative system sustains a mixed steady state consisting of a "jumping cat," i.e., a cat state undergoing random jumps between two phases. We consider realistic setups and show that, in samples within reach of current technology, the system features nonclassical transient states, characterized by a negative Wigner function, that persist during timescales of fractions of a second.
In this paper, we propose a driven-dissipative scheme for generating non-Gaussian mechanical entangled states and remotely preparing mechanical Schrödinger cat states via the entanglement. The system under study consists of a cavity optomechanical setup with two frequency-mismatched mechanical oscillators coupled to a cavity field driven by a bichromatic pump. We show that under proper conditions, an effective Hamiltonian for nondegenerate parametric downconversion involving the two mechanical oscillators and the cavity field can be engineered. We demonstrate analytically and numerically that the cavity dissipation drives the mechanical oscillators into a steady-state pair-coherent state. The no-Gaussianity and nonclassical properties, including Winger negativity, entanglement and quantum steering, of the achieved non-Gaussian mechanical state are investigated in detail. We further show that homodyne detection on one mechanical oscillator enables the remote generation of Schrödinger cat states in the other oscillator through the non-Gaussian mechanical entanglement. As we show, this detection can be implemented by transferring the mechanical state to the output field of an auxiliary probe cavity coupled to the target oscillator, followed by homodyne detection on the output field. We also discuss the robustness of the mechanical entangled states and cat states against thermal fluctuations. Our findings establish a feasible approach for the dissipative and remote preparation of mechanical nonclassical states.
In this paper, we propose a driven-dissipative scheme for generating non-Gaussian entangled mechanical states and consider the remote preparation of motional Schr\"odinger cat states via mechanical entanglement. The system under our study consists of a cavity optomechanical setup with two frequency-mismatched mechanical oscillators simultaneously coupled to a bichromatically driven cavity field. We show that under appropriate conditions, an effective Hamiltonian for nondegenerate parametric down-conversion involving the two mechanical oscillators and the cavity field can be engineered. We demonstrate analytically and numerically that the cavity dissipation drives the mechanical oscillators into a steady-state non-Gaussian entangled state. The properties of the mechanical state, including non-Gaussianity, Wigner negativity, entanglement, and quantum steering, are investigated in detail. We further reveal that through the non-Gaussian mechanical entanglement, the remote preparation of the Schr\"odinger cat states of one mechanical oscillator can be achieved by coupling the other one to an auxiliary probe cavity and homodyning the output of the probe cavity. We also discuss the robustness of the mechanical states against thermal fluctuations. Our scheme provides a feasible approach for the dissipative and remote preparation of non-Gaussian mechanical nonclassical states.
Macroscopic quantum superposition states are fundamental to test the classical-quantum boundary and present suitable candidates for quantum technologies. Although the preparation of such states has already been realized, the existing setups commonly consider external driving and resonant interactions, predominantly by considering Jaynes-Cummings-like and beam-splitter-like interactions, as well as the nonlinear radiation pressure interaction in cavity optomechanics. In contrast to previous works on the matter, we propose a feasible probabilistic scheme to generate a macroscopic mechanical qubit, as well as phononic Schr\"odinger's cat states with no need of any energy exchange with the macroscopic mechanical oscillator. Essentially, we investigate an open dispersive spin-mechanical system in the absence of any external driving under nonideal conditions, such as the detrimental effects due to the oscillator and spin energy losses in a thermal bath at nonzero temperature. In our work, we show that the procedure to generate the mechanical qubit state is solely based on spin postselection in the weak to moderate coupling regime. Finally, we demonstrate that the mechanical superposition is related to the amplification of the mean values of the mechanical quadratures as they maximize the quantum coherence.
We investigate a dissipation-engineering approach to produce a phase-dependent collective-mode Schrödinger cat state involving two modes. Our model features a single cavity mode that interacts with two spectrally identical mechanical oscillators. Both oscillators are coupled through a phase-dependent hopping interaction. We demonstrate that by adjusting the phase of the phonon-hopping interaction, one can control the bipartite entanglement of the phase-dependent two-mode cat state during its generation. Additionally, our study reveals that phonon interactions act as a tunable parameter, enabling the manipulation of steady-state entanglement between the bare mechanical modes, even in the presence of environmental effects and thermal excitations. Our scheme provides a feasible approach for the phase-dependent multi mode non-Gaussian states preparation.
Macroscopic quantum superpositions, such as mechanical Schrödinger cat states, are central to emerging quantum technologies in sensing and bosonic error-correcting codes. We propose a scheme to generate such states by coupling a nanomechanical resonator to a coherently driven two-level system via both transverse and longitudinal interactions. Driving the qubit at twice the oscillator frequency activates resonant two-phonon exchange processes, enabling coherent conversion of drive energy into phonon pairs and their dissipative stabilization. Starting from the full time-dependent Hamiltonian, we derive an effective master equation for the mechanical mode by perturbative elimination of the lossy qubit. The reduced dynamics feature engineered two-phonon loss and a coherent squeezing term, which together drive the resonator into a deterministic Schrödinger-cat state. Our approach requires only a single driven qubit and no auxiliary cavity, offering a scalable and experimentally accessible route to macroscopic quantum superpositions in circuit-QED and related platforms.