Double self-Kerr scheme for optical Schr\"odinger-cat state preparation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a scheme to generate optical Schr"odinger-cat states using a double self-Kerr effect and homodyne detection, enabling high-probability preparation of superposition states conditioned on measurement outcomes.

Contribution

The proposed method uniquely combines double self-Kerr effects with homodyne detection to efficiently prepare optical Schr"odinger-cat states in a traveling wave setup.

Findings

High-probability preparation of Schr"odinger-cat states with small Kerr effect

Conditional state preparation based on quadrature measurement

Effective scheme for optical superposition state generation

Abstract

We propose a scheme to prepare optical Schr\"odinger-cat states in a traveling wave setting. Two states are similarly prepared via the self-Kerr effect and after mixing them, one mode is measured by homodyne detection. In the other mode a superposition of coherent states is conditionally prepared. The advantage of the scheme is that assuming a small Kerr effect one can prepare with high probability one from a set of Schr\"odinger-cat states. The measured value of the quadrature provides the information, which state from the set is actually prepared.