Amplification of the Schrödinger-cat state (even coherent-state superposition) can be accompanied by its non-exponential decoherence and strong squeezing effect in the degenerate optical parametric amplifier. In the classical pump approximation and small thermal noise limit, the Wigner function behaviour illustrates that this non-exponential effect is induced by the phase-selective character of amplification. The non-exponential decoherence is much slower, in contrast with phase-unselective amplification exhibiting faster exponential decay. Thus, if one is able to produce the Schrödinger-cat state with at least a small amplitude, then it can be partially amplified with only a weak decoherence effect.
Perfect deterministic amplification of arbitrary quantum states is prohibited by quantum mechanics, but determinism can be achieved by compromising between fidelity and amplification power. We propose a dynamical scheme for deterministically amplifying photonic Schrödinger cat states, which show great promise as a tool for quantum information processing. Our protocol is designed for strongly coupled circuit quantum electrodynamics and utilizes artificial atomic states and external microwave controls to engineer a set of optimal state transfers and achieve high fidelity amplification. We compare analytical results with full simulations of the open, driven Jaynes–Cummings model, using realistic device parameters for state of the art superconducting circuits. Amplification with a fidelity of 0.9 can be achieved for sizable cat states in the presence of cavity and atomic-level decoherence. This tool could be applied to practical continuous-variable information processing for the purification and stabilization of cat states in the presence of photon losses.
Superpositions of macroscopically distinct quantum states, introduced in Schrödinger’s famous Gedankenexperiment, are an epitome of quantum “strangeness” and a natural tool for determining the validity limits of quantum physics. The optical incarnation of Schrödinger’s cat — the superposition of two opposite-amplitude coherent states — is also the backbone of quantum information processing in the continuous-variable domain. Here we implement two protocols for producing and amplifying optical Schrödinger’s cats. In the first protocol we remotely prepare a high-efficiency Schrödinger cat state by applying the remote state preparation to a N00N state prepared between two parties that are separated by a lossy medium. The second protocol consists in bringing the initial states into interference on a beamsplitter and a subsequent heralding quadrature measurement in one of the output channels. The latter technique enables implementation in an iterative manner, in principle allowing creation of Schrödinger’s cat states of arbitrarily high amplitude.
We introduce a programmable optical parametric amplifier (OPA) synthesizer that, under a heralded photon-number-resolving framework, generates high-fidelity cubic phase states and amplifies Schrodinger cat states. By systematically exploring both the catalytic configuration, where the idler input and output contain the same number of photons (
m=n), and non-catalytic configurations (
m=n), we discover two qualitatively different functionalities. First, with a coherent-state signal input, our protocol generates cubic phase states with fidelity exceeding 0.99 across a broad range of
(m,n) configurations. Second, using a Schrödinger cat state as the signal input, the same framework amplifies the cat state: an input cat with amplitude
αin≤1 is transformed into an output squeezed cat with
αout≥2 while maintaining fidelity above 0.99. The catalytic configuration preserves the input parity and restores the idler state, whereas non-catalytic configurations enable parity-flipping amplification with higher success rates. Moreover, the amplified output can serve as a seed for subsequent amplification rounds, offering a self-seeding pathway to progressively larger cat states. Our protocol requires only moderate-gain OPA operation and low-order photon-number-resolving detection, providing a flexible and experimentally accessible platform for cubic phase state preparation and amplified squeezed cat state generation.