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Updated: May 16, 2026

Quantum State Engineering of Light with Continuous-wave Optical Parametric Oscillators
Published on: May 30, 2014
Experimental observation of quantum chaos in a beam of light
Gabriela B Lemos1, Rafael M Gomes, Stephen P Walborn
1Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Caixa Postal 68528, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 21941-972, Brazil. gabibl@if.ufrj.br
Abstract:
The manner in which unpredictable chaotic dynamics manifests itself in quantum mechanics is a key question in the field of quantum chaos. Indeed, very distinct quantum features can appear due to underlying classical nonlinear dynamics. Here we observe signatures of quantum nonlinear dynamics through the direct measurement of the time-evolved Wigner function of the quantum-kicked harmonic oscillator, implemented in the spatial degrees of freedom of light. Our setup is decoherence-free and we can continuously tune the semiclassical and chaos parameters, so as to explore the transition from regular to essentially chaotic dynamics. Owing to its robustness and versatility, our scheme can be used to experimentally investigate a variety of nonlinear quantum phenomena. As an example, we couple this system to a quantum bit and experimentally investigate the decoherence produced by regular or chaotic dynamics.
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