Conversations with Schrödinger’s Cat

Anthony Horvath

Valentin L. Gorshenin

Schrödinger cat (SC) states are important in quantum optics because of their non-Gaussian properties. We propose a novel, to the best of our knowledge, method for the conditional generation of bright (multi-photon) SC states that uses degenerate parametric down-conversion and heralding measurement of the photon number in the pump mode. We show that this method, in principle, could be implemented using modern high- Q optical microresonators.

József Janszky, Aleksandr V Vinogradov, T. Kobayashi +1 more

The optical Schr\"odinger-cat states are simple realizations of quantum states having nonclassical features. It is shown that vibrational analogs of such states can be realized in an experiment of double-pulse or chirped-pulse excitation of vibronic transitions. The possibility of conversion of vibrational Schr\"odinger-cat states to chemical-cat states is discussed.

Ranjit Singh, Alexander Evgen’evich Teretenkov