Witnessing negativity of Wigner function by estimating fidelities of cat-like states from homodyne measurements

Abstract

We derive sampling functions for estimation of quantum state fidelity with Schrödinger cat-like states, which are defined as superpositions of two coherent states with opposite amplitudes. We also provide sampling functions for fidelity with squeezed Fock states that can approximate the cat-like states and can be generated from Gaussian squeezed states by conditional photon subtraction. The fidelities can be determined by averaging the sampling functions over quadrature statistics measured by homodyne detection. The sampling functions are designed such that they can compensate for losses and inefficient homodyning provided that the overall efficiency exceeds certain threshold. The fidelity with an odd coherent state and the fidelity with a squeezed odd Fock state provide convenient witnesses of negativity of Wigner function of the measured state. The negativity of Wigner function at the origin of phase space is certified if any of these fidelities exceeds 0.5. Finally, we discuss the possibility of reducing the statistical uncertainty of the fidelity estimates by a suitable choice of the dependence of the number of quadrature samples on the relative phase shift between local oscillator and signal beam.

18 pages, 3 figures

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• Generation of squeezed Fock states by measurement
• Estimation of the set of states obtained in particle number measurement schemes
• Comparison of Controlled-Z operation and beam-splitter transformation for generation of squeezed Fock states by measurement
• Catability as a metric for evaluating superposed coherent states
• The Interplay between Quantum Contextuality and Wigner Negativity