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Updated: Jul 29, 2026

Quantum State Engineering of Light with Continuous-wave Optical Parametric Oscillators
Published on: May 30, 2014
Quantum-optical catalysis: generating nonclassical states of light by means of linear optics
1Fachbereich Physik, Universität Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany. Alex.Lvovsky@uni-konstanz.de
Abstract:
We report preparation and characterization of coherent superposition states t[0>+alpha]1> of the electromagnetic field by conditional measurements on a beam splitter. This state is generated in one of the beam splitter output channels if a coherent state [alpha> and a single-photon Fock state [1> are present in the two input ports and a single photon is registered in the other beam splitter output. The single photon thus plays a role of a "catalyst:" it is explicitly present in both the input and the output channels of the interaction yet facilitates generation of a nonclassical state of light.
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