Quantum simulations with multiphoton Fock states

Conventional Glauber coherent states (CS) can be defined in several equivalent ways, e.g., by displacing the vacuum or, explicitly, by their infinite Poissonian expansion in Fock states. It is well known that these definitions become inequivalent if applied to finite $d$-level systems (qudits). We present a comparative Wigner-function description of the qudit CS defined (i) by the action of the truncated displacement operator on the vacuum and (ii) by the Poissonian expansion in Fock states of the Glauber CS truncated at $(d\ensuremath{-}1)$-photon Fock state. These states can be generated from a classical light by its optical truncation using nonlinear and linear quantum scissors devices, respectively. We show a surprising effect that a macroscopically distinguishable superposition of two qudit CS (according to both definitions) can be generated with high fidelity by displacing the vacuum in the qudit Hilbert space. If the qudit dimension $d$ is even (odd), then the superposition state contains Fock states with only odd (even) photon numbers, which can be referred to as the odd (even) qudit CS or Schr\"odinger's cat state. This phenomenon can be interpreted as an interference of a single CS with its reflection from the highest-energy Fock state of the Hilbert space, as clearly seen via phase-space interference of the Wigner function. We also analyze nonclassical properties of the qudit CS including their photon-number statistics and nonclassical volume of the Wigner function, which is a quantitative parameter of nonclassicality (quantumness) of states. Finally, we study optical tomograms, which can be directly measured in the homodyne detection of the analyzed qudit cat states and enable the complete reconstructions of their Wigner functions.

Boson sampling is a specific quantum computation, which is likely hard to implement efficiently on a classical computer. The task is to sample the output photon-number distribution of a linear-optical interferometric network, which is fed with single-photon Fock-state inputs. A question that has been asked is if the sampling problems associated with any other input quantum states of light (other than the Fock states) to a linear-optical network and suitable output detection strategies are also of similar computational complexity as boson sampling. We consider the states that differ from the Fock states by a displacement operation, namely the displaced Fock states and the photon-added coherent states. It is easy to show that the sampling problem associated with displaced single-photon Fock states and a displaced photon-number detection scheme is in the same complexity class as boson sampling for all values of displacement. On the other hand, we show that the sampling problem associated with single-photon-added coherent states and the same displaced photon-number detection scheme demonstrates a computational-complexity transition. It transitions from being just as hard as boson sampling when the input coherent amplitudes are sufficiently small to a classically simulatable problem in the limit of large coherent amplitudes.

A laser field may be idealized as a coherent state, but it is often more convenient to use Fock states fQr quantum electrodynamical calculations. A Fock state implies fluctuations in the field intensity, aptl a constant field intensity (coherent state) implies fluctuations in the photon number. Both these effects are discussed rigorously. When the average photon number tends to infinity, these different states become asymptotically indistinguishable.

Optimal generation of photon Fock states is of significance to quantum science and technology. Here we develop a theoretical scheme for fast generating microwave photon Fock states in a circuit quantum electrodynamics (QED) via invariant-based shortcuts to adiabaticity. A superconducting transmon qubit is dispersively coupled to a cavity field of transmission line resonator. Two classical drivings are applied to a composite system, consisting of a transmon qubit and cavity field. In the two-photon resonance with a large intermediate-level detuning, a single-photon Fock state can be fast created by inversely engineering Rabi couplings. With the assistance of auxiliary driving, qubit state can be initialized for inducing multi-photon Fock states in the shortcut manner. Due to negligible leakage effects and high robustness, our scheme offers a potential way to rapidly prepare photon Fock states with a superconducting qubit in circuit QED.

We derive a general expression of the expectation value of the parity operator in a Mach–Zehnder interferometer with a Fock state in one input port and an arbitrary state in the other input. We obtain the quantum Crámer–Rao bound via the error propagation method from parity detection for the phase shift around zero. In addition, for an arbitrary state with the same mean photon number, our results show that the same phase resolution and the same phase uncertainty can be obtained for the phase shift around zero. That is to say, when a Mach–Zehnder interferometer is powered by a Fock state into one input port, all quantum states with same mean photon number at the other input may have the same performance in the phase estimation via parity detection. As some specific applications, we consider the arbitrary state being a Fock state, a coherent state, and a squeezed-vacuum state.

We present explicit evaluations of quantum speed limit times pertinent to the Markovian dynamics of an open continuous-variable system. Specifically, we consider the standard setting of a cavity mode of the quantum radiation field weakly coupled to a thermal bosonic reservoir. The evolution of the field state is ruled by the quantum optical master equation, which is known to have an exact analytic solution. Starting from a pure input state, we employ two indicators of how different the initial and evolved states are, namely, the fidelity of evolution and the Hilbert-Schmidt distance of evolution. The former was introduced by del Campo {\em et al.} who derived a time-independent speed limit for the evolution of a Markovian open system. We evaluate it for this field-reservoir setting, with an arbitrary input pure state of the field mode. The resultant formula is then specialized to the coherent and Fock states. On the other hand, we exploit an alternative approach that employs both indicators of evolution mentioned above. Their rates of change have the same upper bound, and consequently provide a unique time-dependent quantum speed limit. It turns out that the associate quantum speed limit time built with the Hilbert-Schmidt metric is tighter than the fidelity-based one. As apposite applications, we investigate the damping of the coherent and Fock states by using the characteristic functions of the corresponding evolved states. General expressions of both the fidelity and the Hilbert-Schmidt distance of evolution are obtained and analyzed for these two classes of input states. In the case of a coherent state, we derive accurate formulas for their common speed limit and the pair of associate limit times.

Classicality and anticlassicality measures of pure and mixed quantum states

Fock states and coherent states have been widely applied in analyses of quantum-optics experiments. In this paper, the application of a set of basis functions that consist of a product of displaced harmonic-oscillator states for the electromagnetic field and atomic states that are eigenfunctions of the momentum operator will be explored. For the case of a single mode, these states are the exact eigenfunctions in the limiting case where the electromagnetic-field mode frequency is much larger than the atomic transition frequency. This choice of basis functions will be used to analyze the interaction of a nonrelativistic, ``two-level'' atom with a single-frequency, quantized electromagnetic-field mode. Since in this basis the sign of the displacement of the electromagnetic-field state depends on the state of the atom, these new basis wave functions exhibit explicitly some aspects of atom-field correlations that are intrinsically quantum mechanical in nature. The analysis will be performed in the electric-dipole approximation for an atomic system that obeys the \ensuremath{\Delta}m=0 selection rule. The rotating-wave-approximation (RWA) terms cannot be made negligible through judicious choice of the field polarization for this system. The diamagnetic term, ${\mathit{e}}^{2}$${\mathbf{A}}^{2}$/2${\mathit{mc}}^{2}$, which is of the same order of magnitude as the RWA terms, is taken into account exactly by slightly modifying the traditional approach to quantizing the electromagnetic field. In this way the physical effects of the diamagnetic term are absorbed into a new electromagnetic cavity mode frequency.An approximate expression for the combined system's energy eigenvalues is found up to third order in the ratio of one-half the atomic transition frequency to the mode frequency. This expression indicates that inclusion of the RWA terms adds a small ``ripple'' on top of the smoothly varying energy eigenvalues when they are plotted as a function of the atom-field coupling constant. The ripple is interpreted as ``interference'' between two displaced oscillator-field states that represent the unperturbed state. When the Fock states are used as the basis for expanding the wave function of this system, a formidable five-term recurrence relation results. However, expanding the wave function in terms of the displaced harmonic-oscillator basis results in a less formidable three-term recurrence relation for the quantum coefficients.

We discuss a scheme to generate large Fock states. The scheme involves repeatedly applying an experimentally feasible unitary transformation to convert a semiclassical state into a Fock state. The transformation combines Kerr interaction, which is a non-Gaussian operation, and pulsed coherent drives. We identify suitable parameter values (Kerr strength, pulse timings, displacement amplitude) for the physical processes to implement the transformation and generate large Fock states with near-unity fidelity. The feasibility of implementing the scheme in circuit QED architectures is discussed. The method is also suitable for generating Fock states of cavity fields.

The Mach-Zehnder interferometer is a powerful device for detecting small phase shifts between two light beams. Simple input states, such as coherent states or single photons, can reach the standard quantum limit of phase estimation, while more complex states can be used to reach Heisenberg scaling; the latter, however, require challenging preparation and measurement strategies. The quest for highly sensitive phase estimation therefore calls for interferometers with nonlinear devices which would make the preparation of these complex states more efficient. Here, we show that the Heisenberg scaling can be recovered with simple input states (including Fock and coherent states) when the linear mirrors in the interferometer are replaced with controlled-swap gates and measurements on auxiliary qubits. These swap tests project the input Fock and coherent states onto NOON and entangled coherent states, respectively, and allow optimal or near-optimal measurements, leading to improved sensitivity to small phase shifts in one of the interferometer arms. We analyze auxiliary qubit errors in detail, showing that biasing the qubit towards phase flips offers a great advantage, and perform thorough numerical simulations of a possible implementation in circuit quantum electrodynamics with an auxiliary Kerr-cat qubit. Our results thus present a viable approach to phase estimation approaching Heisenberg-limited sensitivity and demonstrate potential advantages of using biased-noise qubits in quantum metrology. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

It is known that a uniformly accelerating detector gets excited in the inertial vacuum of a field, as if it were immersed in a thermal bath. We study the effect that the choice of the quantum state has on the response of the detector. The ``correlation function'' 〈\ensuremath{\Psi}\ensuremath{\Vert}\ensuremath{\varphi}(x)\ensuremath{\varphi}(x')\ensuremath{\Vert}\ensuremath{\Psi}〉 is computed in a Fock state, in the coherent state, and in the thermal state. It is then shown that the response function is a sum of two terms---the first being the same as the response in the vacuum state and a second term which is state dependent. The limit of the response function as \ensuremath{\Elzxh}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0 is discussed and the response of the inertial and accelerated detectors compared in this limit. The response in the large-${n}_{\mathrm{k}}$ limit of the Fock state is compared with the response in the coherent state. We conclude that the thermal response of an accelerated detector in the inertial vacuum has interesting similarities to its response in other states.

Recognized as a potential resource for quantum technologies and a possible test bed for fundamental physics, the control and preparation of nonclassical states of mechanical oscillators have been explored extensively. Within optomechanics, quantum state synthesis can be realized by entangling photonic and phononic degrees of freedom followed by optical detection. Single-photon detection enables one of the most powerful forms of such heralded quantum state preparation, permitting the creation of single-phonon states when applied to conventional cavity optomechanical systems. As the complexity of optomechanical systems increases, single-photon detection may provide heralded access to a larger class of exotic quantum states. Here, we examine the quantum dynamics of optomechanical systems that permit forward Brillouin scattering, where a single-phonon mode mediates transitions between a collection of equally spaced optical resonances. Solving both the Schrodinger equation and the Lindblad master equation for this system, we find that initial states comprised of single photons or weak laser pulses evolve into complex quantum states where the frequency of single-photon states and the phonon occupation number are entangled. Physically, these interactions permit a single photon to scatter to lower frequencies, where phonon excitation occurs for each scattering event. Combining this result with frequency filtering, we show how single-photon detection can herald selected multiphonon Fock states, even in the presence of optical losses. We also present an approach for quantum tomography of the heralded phonon states, which in the form of a state swap from the phononic to photonic domain enables on-demand generation of multiphoton Fock states.

Spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) is the most widely used method to generate higher-order Fock states ($n\ensuremath{\ge}2$). Yet, a consistent performance analysis from fundamental principles is missing. Here, we address this problem by introducing a framework for state fidelity and generation probability under the consideration of losses and multimode emission. With this analysis we show the fundamental limitations of this process as well as a trade-off between state fidelity and generation rate intrinsic to the probabilistic nature of the process. This identifies the parameter space for which SPDC is useful when generating higher-order Fock states for quantum applications. We experimentally investigate the multiphoton regime of SPDC and demonstrate heralded Fock states up to $|n\ensuremath{\rangle}=4$.

The nearest Hilbert-Schmidt distance of (pure) states to coherent states is discussed as a quantitative measure of nonclassicality of states in quantum optics or quantum mechanics of harmonic oscillators. Fock states, squeezed coherent states and finite superpositions of coherent states (Schrodinger cat states) are considered as examples. Some other approaches to nonclassicality of states in quantum optics are shortly discussed.

The role of local fields in quantum electrodynamics of isolated quantum dot (QD) has been analyzed. The system is modeled as a strongly confined in space two-level quantum oscillator illuminated by quantum light. Relation between local and acting fields in QD has been derived in the dipole approximation from the integral Maxwell equations for electromagnetic field operators. A formalism of the electromagnetic field quantization in electrically small scatterers has been developed. As a result, Hamiltonian of the system has been formulated in terms of the acting field with a separate term responsible for the effect of depolarization. Schr\"odinger equation with that Hamiltonian has been solved in linear approximation. Interaction of QD with different quantum states of light, such as Fock states, coherent states, Fock qubits, entangled states, has been analyzed. It has been shown that the local-fields induce a fine structure of the QD absorption (emission) spectrum: instead of a single line with the frequency corresponding to the exciton transition, a doublet appears with one component shifted to the blue (red). The value of the shift depends only on the geometrical and electronic properties of QD while the intensities of components are completely determined by the quantum light statistics. It has been demonstrated that in the limiting cases of classical light and single-photon state the doublet is reduced to a singlet shifted in the former case and unshifted in the latter one. A physical interpretation of the predicted effect has been proposed. Possible ways of experimental observation of the effect has been discussed together with the potentiality of its utilization in the quantum information processing.