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Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences Physics

On Non-Gaussian Linear Quantum Optics

Alexander Evgen’evich Teretenkov

Published Jul 1, 2026• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract This paper studies a class of single-mode bosonic models of open quantum systems in which the dynamics of the creation and annihilation operators remains linear despite the strongly non-Gaussian nature of the induced dissipation. It is shown that, in contrast to isolated bosonic systems—where linear dynamics uniquely corresponds to quadratic Hamiltonians and Gaussian states—linearity of the operator dynamics in open systems does not guarantee Gaussianity of the state evolution. We construct quantum channels and Gorini–Kossakowski–Sudarshan–Lindblad generators for which the dynamics of the creation and annihilation operators is linear and closed, while Gaussian states are driven beyond the convex hull of Gaussian states during the evolution. In particular, the emergence of negativity of the Wigner function at a finite evolution time is demonstrated.

DOI
10.1134/s1062873826700887

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Abstract This paper studies a class of single-mode bosonic models of open quantum systems in which the dynamics of the creation and annihilation operators remains linear despite the strongly non-Gaussian nature of the induced dissipation. It is shown that, in contrast to isolated bosonic systems—where linear dynamics uniquely corresponds to quadratic Hamiltonians and Gaussian states—linearity of the operator dynamics in open systems does not guarantee Gaussianity of the state evolution. We construct quantum channels and Gorini–Kossakowski–Sudarshan–Lindblad generators for which the dynamics of the creation and annihilation operators is linear and closed, while Gaussian states are driven beyond the convex hull of Gaussian states during the evolution. In particular, the emergence of negativity of the Wigner function at a finite evolution time is demonstrated.
The generation of non-Gaussian states of bosonic systems described by continuous quantum degrees of freedom is of interest in a variety of contexts, ranging from quantum foundations to computation and communication. A crucial feature of genuine non-Gaussian states is that they cannot be described in general with a non-negative Wignerquasi-probability distribution. In particular, this feature is equivalent to contextuality and it underpins all attempts at attaining quantum computational advantage in a universal setting. In this thesis, the generation of Wigner-negative states is addressed, pursuing two approaches. First, in an optomechanical-like setting, we develop schemes to generate Wigner-negative states of two massive mechanical systems, in turn correlated such that they also feature entanglement, another genuine quantum hallmark. These schemes are based on driven-dissipative systems where dissipation is properly engineered by taking advantage of linear-and-quadratic optomechanical interactions. We address the robustness of these schemes when uncontrollable noisy channels are included in the dynamics, proving that their resilience is comparable to Gaussian schemes that have already been implemented experimentally. Second, considering in particular circuit QED systems and trapped ions, we propose a method to engineer a set of Hamiltonian evolutions that are universal in terms of single-mode state preparation. This method is based on a driven quantum Rabi model, where the desired evolution is effectively imprinted on a continuous-variable degree of freedom by its interaction with a properly driven two-level system. We demonstrate the universality of such approach by simulating the generation of multi-squeezed and other states, including the celebrated cubic-phase state. We also consider the effect of noise in realistic settings, showing in particular that in systems involving superconducting qubits, the generation of tri-squeezed states --- a universal resource for continuous-variable quantum computation which we prove to display larger Wigner negativities with respect to Fock and cubic-phase states for the same energy --- is within experimental reach.
A well established approach to describe open quantum system dynamics is the celebrated Gorini-Kossakowski-Sudarshan-Lindblad (GKSL) master equation. In this article we aim to shed light on semigroup dynamics that are not of this form. Such dynamics may appear in real physical systems describing asymptotic long-time dynamics. Thus, they correspond to semigroup dynamics applicable to a restricted set of initial states only. As a way of motivating our studies, first we review known results about the single-mode Gaussian Quantum Brownian motion channel and corresponding master equations. Next we discuss a conceptually simpler family of qubit semigroup generators and identify parameter regions of completely positive, merely positive, and non-positive dynamics. We then focus on the latter case to which we will refer to as restricted-positive, as the semigroup generator may well be physically meaningful when applied to a restricted set of admissible initial states.
A minimal energy quantum superposition of two maximally distinguishable, isoenergetic single mode Gaussian states is used to construct the system-environment representation of a class of linear bosonic quantum channels acting on a single bosonic mode. The quantum channels are further defined by unitary dynamics of the system and environment corresponding to either a passive linear optical element U_{BS} or two-mode squeezing U_{TM}. The notion of nonclassicality distance is used to show that the initial environment superposition state becomes maximally nonclassical as the constraint energy is increased. When the system is initially prepared in a coherent state, application of the quantum channel defined by U_{BS} results in a nonclassical state for all values of the environment energy constraint. We also discuss the following properties of the quantum channels: 1) the maximal noise that a coherent system can tolerate, beyond which the linear bosonic attenuator channel defined by U_{BS} cannot impart nonclassical correlations to the system, 2) the noise added to a coherent system by the phase-preserving linear amplification channel defined by U_{TM}, and 3) a generic lower bound for the trace norm contraction coefficient on the closed, convex hull of energy-constrained Gaussian states.
A minimal energy quantum superposition of two maximally distinguishable, isoenergetic single mode Gaussian states is used to construct the system-environment representation of a class of linear bosonic quantum channels acting on a single bosonic mode. The quantum channels are further defined by unitary dynamics of the system and environment corresponding to either a passive linear optical element UBSU_{\text{BS}}UBS​ or two-mode squeezing UTMU_{\text{TM}}UTM​. The notion of nonclassicality distance is used to show that the initial environment superposition state becomes maximally nonclassical as the constraint energy is increased. When the system is initially prepared in a coherent state, application of the quantum channel defined by UBSU_{\text{BS}}UBS​ results in a nonclassical state for all values of the environment energy constraint. We also discuss the following properties of the quantum channels: 1) the maximal noise that a coherent system can tolerate, beyond which the linear bosonic attenuator channel defined by UBSU_{\text{BS}}UBS​ cannot impart nonclassical correlations to the system, 2) the noise added to a coherent system by the phase-preserving linear amplification channel defined by UTMU_{\text{TM}}UTM​, and 3) a generic lower bound for the trace norm contraction coefficient on the closed, convex hull of energy-constrained Gaussian states.
We study solutions to the quantum trajectory evolution of NNN-mode open quantum systems possessing a time-independent Hamiltonian, linear Heisenberg-picture dynamics, and Gaussian measurement noise. In terms of the mode annihilation and creation operators, a system will have linear Heisenberg-picture dynamics under two conditions. First, the Hamiltonian must be quadratic. Second, the Lindblad operators describing the coupling to the environment (including those corresponding to the measurement) must be linear. In cases where we can solve the 2N2N2N-degree polynomials that arise in our calculations, we provide an analytical solution for initial states that are arbitrary (i.e., they are not required to have Gaussian Wigner functions). The solution takes the form of an evolution operator, with the measurement-result dependence captured in 2N2N2N stochastic integrals over these classical random signals. The solutions also allow the positive operator-valued measure (POVM), which generates the probabilities of obtaining measurement outcomes, to be determined. To illustrate our results, we solve some single-mode example systems, with the POVMs being of practical relevance to the inference of an initial state, via quantum state tomography. Our key tool is the representation of mixed states of quantum mechanical oscillators as state vectors rather than state matrices (albeit in a larger Hilbert space). Together with methods from Lie algebra, this allows a more straightforward manipulation of the exponential operators comprising the system evolution than is possible in the original Hilbert space.