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Updated: Feb 26, 2026

Quantum State Engineering of Light with Continuous-wave Optical Parametric Oscillators
Published on: May 30, 2014
Measurement-Induced Strong Kerr Nonlinearity for Weak Quantum States of Light
Luca S Costanzo1,2, Antonio S Coelho3, Nicola Biagi1,2
1Istituto Nazionale di Ottica (INO-CNR), Largo E. Fermi 6, 50125 Florence, Italy.
Abstract:
Strong nonlinearity at the single photon level represents a crucial enabling tool for optical quantum technologies. Here we report on experimental implementation of a strong Kerr nonlinearity by measurement-induced quantum operations on weak quantum states of light. Our scheme coherently combines two sequences of single photon addition and subtraction to induce a nonlinear phase shift at the single photon level. We probe the induced nonlinearity with weak coherent states and characterize the output non-Gaussian states with quantum state tomography. The strong nonlinearity is clearly witnessed as a change of sign of specific off-diagonal density matrix elements in the Fock basis.
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