Emulation of quantum measurements with mixtures of coherent states

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to simulate quantum phenomena using mixtures of coherent states, enabling experimental emulation of complex quantum effects with more feasible resources.

Contribution

The authors develop a practical approach to emulate non-classical quantum states with coherent states, simplifying experimental realization of quantum effects.

Findings

Successfully emulated multi-photon NOON states

Observed Hong-Ou-Mandel effect

Violated Bell inequalities and witnessed non-classicality

Abstract

We propose a methodology to emulate quantum phenomena arising from any non-classical quantum state using only a finite set of mixtures of coherent states. This allows us to successfully reproduce well-known quantum effects using resources that can be much more feasibly generated in the laboratory. We present a simple procedure to experimentally carry out quantum-state emulation with coherent states, illustrate it emulating multi-photon NOON states with few phase-averaged coherent states, and demonstrate its capabilities in observing fundamental quantum-mechanical effects, such as the Hong-Ou-Mandel effect, violating Bell inequalities and witnessing quantum non-classicality.