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Optical hybrid entanglement can be created between two qubits, one encoded in a single photon and another one in coherent states with opposite phases. It opens the path to a variety of quantum technologies, such as heterogeneous quantum networks, merging continuous and discrete variable encoding, and enabling the transport and interconversion of information. However, reliable characterization of the nature of this entanglement is limited so far to full quantum state tomography. Here, we perform a thorough study of Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) Bell inequality tests, enabling practical verification of quantum correlations for optical hybrid entanglement. We show that a practical violation of this inequality is possible with simple photon number on/off measurements if detection efficiencies stay above 82%. Another approach, based on photon-number parity measurements, requires 94% efficiency but works well in the limit of higher photon populations. Both tests use no postselection of the measurement outcomes and they are free of the fair-sampling hypothesis. Our proposal paves the way to performing loophole-free tests using feasible experimental tasks such as coherent state interference and photon counting, and to verification of hybrid entanglement in real-world applications., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures

Accurate phase estimation in the presence of unknown phase diffusive noise is a crucial yet challenging task in noisy quantum metrology. This problem is particularly interesting due to the detrimental impact of the associated noise. Here, we investigate the joint estimation of phase and phase diffusion using generalized Holland-Burnett states, known for their experimental accessibility. These states provide performance close to the optimal state in single-parameter phase estimation, even in the presence of photon losses. We adopt a twofold approach by analyzing the joint information extraction through the double homodyne measurement and the joint information availability across all probe states. Through our analysis, we find that the highest sensitivities are obtained by using states created by directing all input photons into one port of a balanced beam splitter. Furthermore, we infer that good levels of sensitivity persist even in the presence of moderate photon losses, illustrating the remarkable resilience of our probe states under lossy conditions., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures

In recent years, the study of topologically non-trivial structures in one-dimensional models has been dominated by the Su--Schrieffer--Heeger model due to its simplicity in design and its ability to support edge states with robustness to disorder in couplings, protected by chiral and inversion symmetry. Here, we present a novel study on a zigzag quasi-one-dimensional model, which supports topologically protected edge states without relying on conventional symmetries. Our model utilises next-neighbour couplings to mediate edge states and is simultaneously resilient to dissipation, couplings and on-site energy disorders. In order to understand the topological properties of this model, we introduce a novel way to demonstrate the bulk-boundary correspondence of the edge states and construct a topological invariant that returns quantized values. Our study sheds light on the possibility of constructing topological phases in new ways, even in the absence of conventional symmetries, and opens up new avenues for research in this field. In addition, we demonstrate a possible photonic realization of these models with the help of an orbital-induced synthetic flux.

Particle entanglement is a fundamental resource upon which are based many quantum technologies. However, the up-to-now best sources of entangled photons rely on parametric down-conversion processes, which are optimal only at certain frequencies, which rarely match the energies of condensed-matter systems that can benefit from entanglement. In this Article, we show a way to circumvent this issue, and we introduce a new source of entangled photons based on resonance fluorescence delivering photon pairs as a superposition of vacuum and the Bell state $|\Phi^-\rangle$. Our proposal relies on the emission from the satellite peaks of a two-level system driven by a strong off-resonant laser, whose intensity controls the frequencies of the entangled photons. Furthermore, the degree of entanglement can be optimized for every pair of frequencies, thus demonstrating a clear advantage over existing technologies. Finally, we illustrate the power of our novel source of entangled single-photon pairs by exciting a system of polaritons and showing that they are left in a maximally entangled steady state., Comment: 8 pages and 4 figures in the main text; 6 pages and 2 figures in the supplementary material

Loophole-free Bell tests are essential if one wishes to perform device-independent quantum key distribution (QKD), since any loophole could be used by a potential adversary to undermine the security of the protocol. Crucial work by Eberhard demonstrated that weakly entangled two-qubit states have a far greater resistance to the detection loophole than maximally entangled states, allowing one to close the loophole with detection efficiency greater than 2/3. Here we demonstrate that this same limit holds for photon-counting CHSH Bell tests which can demonstrate non-locality for higher dimensional multiphoton states such as two-mode squeezed vacuum and generalized Holland-Burnett states. In fact, we show evidence that these tests are in some sense universal, allowing feasible detection loophole-free tests for any multiphoton bipartite state, as long as the two modes are well correlated in photon number. Additionally, by going beyond the typical two-input two-output Bell scenario, we show that there are also photon-counting CGLMP inequalities which can also match the Eberhard limit, paving the way for more exotic loophole-free Bell tests. Finally we show that by exploiting this increased loss tolerance of non maximally entangled states, one can increase the key rates and loss tolerances of QKD protocols based on photon-counting tests., Comment: Main text: 8 pages, 4 figures. Supplementary: 7 pages, 1 figure

Time series prediction is essential for human activities in diverse areas. A common approach to this task is to harness Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs). However, while their predictions are quite accurate, their learning process is complex and, thus, time and energy consuming. Here, we propose to extend the concept of RRNs by including continuous-variable quantum resources in it, and to use a quantum-enhanced RNN to overcome these obstacles. The design of the Continuous-Variable Quantum RNN (CV-QRNN) is rooted in the continuous-variable quantum computing paradigm. By performing extensive numerical simulations, we demonstrate that the quantum network is capable of learning-time dependence of several types of temporal data, and that it converges to the optimal weights in fewer epochs than a classical network. Furthermore, for a small number of trainable parameters, it can achieve lower losses than its classical counterpart. CV-QRNN can be implemented using commercially available quantum-photonic hardware.

Microcavity-polaritons in two-dimensional lattice geometries have been used to study a wide range of interesting physics. Meanwhile, organic materials have shown great promise on the road towards polaritonic devices, as the strong binding energy of their Frenkel excitons permits room temperature condensation and lasing. Whilst there are theoretical treatments of the condensation processes in planar organic microcavities, models of lattice geometries are lacking. Here, we introduce a model for describing the dynamics of lattices of zero-dimensional organic microcavities, where the dominant condensation mechanism involves the emission of a vibrational phonon. The vibronic resonance provides a tool for targeted condensation in a particular eigenmode of the system, which we highlight by examining a dimer and a dimerised chain. For the dimer, we observe a double resonance in the condensation efficiency that arises from tuning the condensate-reservoir detuning in to resonance with either the symmetric or antisymmetric mode. This selective condensation was also exploited in the dimerised chain, to condense the system into the topological edge states under homogeneous pumping of all cavities. We also showed an interesting signature of nonreciprocal transport when pumping a single cavity in the chain, where the direction of propagation depends on the sublattice being pumped., Comment: Main text: 11 pages, 5 figures, 1 table; Supplementary Material: 6 pages, 0 figures, 1 table

We explore by theoretical means an extreme renormalisation of the eigenmodes of a dimer of dipolar meta-atoms due to strong light-matter interactions. Firstly, by tuning the height of an enclosing photonic cavity, we can lower the energy level of the symmetric `bright' mode underneath that of the anti-symmetric `dark' mode. This is possible due to the polaritonic nature of the symmetric mode, that shares simultaneously its excitation with the cavity and the dimer. For a heterogeneous dimer, we show that the polariton modes can be smoothly tuned from symmetric to anti-symmetric, resulting in a variable mode localisation from extended throughout the cavity to concentrated around the vicinity of the dimer. In addition, we reveal a critical point where one of the meta-atoms becomes `shrouded', with no response to a driving electric field, and thus the field re-radiated by the dimer is only that of the other meta-atom. We provide an exact analytical description of the system from first principles, as well as full-wave electromagnetic simulations that show a strong quantitative agreement with the analytical model. Our description is relevant for any physical dimer where dipolar interactions are the dominant mechanism., Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures

We present an experimental signature of the Anderson localisation of microcavity polaritons, and provide a systematic study of the dependence on disorder strength. We reveal a controllable degree of localisation, as characterised by the inverse-participation ratio, by tuning the positional disorder of arrays of interacting mesas. This constitutes the realisation of disorder-induced localisation in a driven-dissipative system. In addition to being an ideal candidate for investigating localisation in this regime, microcavity polaritons hold promise for low-power, ultra-small devices and their localisation could be used as a resource in quantum memory and quantum information processing., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures

We propose a protocol to perform long-range distribution of near-maximally entangled multiphoton states, allowing versatile applications such as quantum key distribution (QKD) and quantum metrology which can provide alternatives to state-of-the-art protocols. Our scheme uses resources available within the current integrated quantum photonic technology: squeezed vacuum states and photon-number-resolving detectors. The distributed entanglement can be certified by Bell tests which have the potential to be loophole free, and may be directly used in well established QKD protocols. Generally, this provides measurement-device-independent (MDI) levels of security, which may be upgraded to fully device-independent (DI) security if the Bell test is loophole-free. In both cases, the protocol is robust to extremely high transmission losses, matching the optimal $O(\sqrt{\eta})$ scaling of key rate with channel transmittance., Comment: 34 pages, 19 figures, 4 tables

Quantum steering is a relatively simple test for quantumness of correlations, proving that the values of quantum-mechanical measurement outcomes come into being only in the act of measurement. By exploiting quantum correlations Alice can influence -- steer -- Bob's physical system in a way inaccessible in classical world, leading to violation of some inequalities. Demonstrating this and similar quantum effects for systems of increasing size, approaching even the classical limit, is a long-standing challenging problem. Here we provide experimentally feasible signature of unbounded violation of a steering inequality. We derive its universal form where tolerance for measurement-setting-errors is explicitly build-in by means of the Deutsch-Maassen-Uffink uncertainty relation. Then, generalizing the mutual unbiasedness, we apply the inequality to the multi-singlet and multi-particle bipartite Bell-state. However, the method is general and opens the possibility of employing multi-particle bipartite steering for randomness certification and development of quantum technologies, e.g.\ random access codes., Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures

A novel, optimized numerical method of modeling of an exciton-polariton superfluid in a semiconductor microcavity was proposed. Exciton-polaritons are spin-carrying quasiparticles formed from photons strongly coupled to excitons. They possess unique properties, interesting from the point of view of fundamental research as well as numerous potential applications. However, their numerical modeling is challenging due to the structure of nonlinear differential equations describing their evolution. In this paper, we propose to solve the equations with a modified Runge--Kutta method of 4th order, further optimized for efficient computations. The algorithms were implemented in form of C++ programs fitted for parallel environments and utilizing vector instructions. The programs form the EPCGP suite which have been used for theoretical investigation of exciton-polaritons., Comment: 23 pages, 6 figures

We investigate the possibility of creating X-waves, or localized wave packets, in resonantly excited exciton-polariton superfluids. We demonstrate the existence of X-wave traveling solutions in the coupled exciton-photon system past the inflection point, where the effective mass of lower polaritons is negative in the direction perpendicular to the wavevector of the pumping beam. Contrary to the case of bright solitons, X-waves do not require nonlinearity for sustaining their shape. Nevertheless, we show that nonlinearity is important for their dynamics, as it allows for their spontaneous formation from an initial Gaussian wave packet. Unique properties of exciton-polaritons may lead to applications of their X-waves in long-distance signal propagation inside novel integrated optoelectronic circuits based on excitons., Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures

In the Hong--Ou--Mandel interferometric scheme, two identical photons that illuminate a balanced beam splitter always leave through the same exit port. Similar effects have been predicted and (partially) experimentally confirmed for multi-photon Fock-number states. In the limit of large photon numbers, the output distribution follows a $(1-x^2)^{-1/2}$ law, where $x$ is the normalized imbalance in the output photon numbers at the two output ports. We derive an analytical formula that is also valid for imbalanced input photon numbers with a large total number of photons, and focus on the extent to which the hypothesis of perfect balanced input can be relaxed, discussing the robustness and universal features of the output distribution.

Quantum walks provide simple models of various fundamental processes. It is pivotal to know when the dynamics underlying a walk lead to quantum advantages just by examining its statistics. A walk with many indistinguishable particles and measurements of non-classical multi-particle correlations is likely to reveal the quantum nature. The number of elements $O(n)$ in a setup realizing walks grows with their length or spread $n$. We introduce the concept of a quantum leap, a process which can be achieved with fewer or complementary resources and which in a single step simulates another long process. The process and its leap are described by the same Hamiltonian but, the latter parametrizes the evolution with a tunable parameter of a setup. In the case of walks, a leap immediately gives a probability distribution which results only after many steps. This may be appealing for simulation of processes which are lengthy or require dynamical control. We discuss a leap based on the multi-particle Hong--Ou--Mandel interference, an inherently quantum phenomenon. It reproduces a quantum walk enabling perfect state transfer through spin chains. It requires a beam splitter, two detectors and $n$ particles to mimic a walk on a chain of size $O(n)$, for time fixed by beam-splitter's reflectivity. Our results apply to a broad class of systems where the HOM-like effects can be observed, and may constitute a new approach to simulation of complex Hamiltonians with passive interferometers., Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures

We examine an experimental setup implementing a family of quantum non-Gaussian filters. The filters can be applied to an arbitrary two-mode input state. We assume realistic photodetection in the filtering process and explore two different models of inefficient detection: a beam splitter of a small reflectivity located in front of a perfect detector and a Weierstrass transform applied to the unperturbed measurement outcomes. We explicitly give an operator which describes the coherent action of the filters in the realistic experimental conditions. The filtered states may find applications in quantum metrology, quantum communication and other quantum tasks., Comment: 24 pages, 13 figures, Special Issue on Macroscopic Quantumness, Opt. Commun. (2014)

Bell's theorem applies to the normalizable approximations of the original Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) state. The constructions of the proof require measurements difficult to perform, and dichotomic observables. By noticing the fact that the four mode squeezed vacuum state produced in type II down-conversion can be seen both as two copies of approximate EPR states, and also as a kind of polarization supersinglet, we show a straightforward way to test violations of the EPR concepts with direct use of their state. The observables involved are simply photon numbers at outputs of polarizing beam splitters. Suitable chained Bell inequalities are based on the geometric concept of distance. For a few settings they are potentially a new tool for quantum information applications, involving observables of a nondichotomic nature, and thus of higher informational capacity. In the limit of infinitely many settings we get a Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger-type contradiction: EPR reasoning points to a correlation, while quantum prediction is an anticorrelation. Violations of the inequalities are fully resistant to multipair emissions in Bell experiments using parametric down-conversion sources., Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures

Although our understanding of Bell's theorem and experimental techniques to test it have improved over the last 40 years, thus far all Bell tests have suffered at least from the detection or the locality loophole. Most photonic Bell tests rely on inefficient discrete-outcome measurements, often provided by photon counting detection. One possible way to close the detection loophole in photonic Bell tests is to involve efficient continuous-variable measurements instead, such as homodyne detection. Here, we propose a test of the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) inequality that applies photon counting and homodyne detection on weakly amplified two-photon N00N states. The scheme suggested is remarkably robust against experimental imperfections and suits the limits of current technology. As amplified quantum states are considered, our work also contributes to the exploration of entangled macroscopic quantum systems. Further, it may constitute an alternative platform for a loophole-free Bell test, which is also important for quantum-technological applications., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures

We demonstrate that a phase-independent quantum amplifier of a polarization qubit is a complementary amplifier of the heralded qubit amplifier [N. Gisin, S. Pironio and N. Sangouard, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 070501 (2010)]. It employs the multi-functional cloner in 1 to 2 copying regime, capable of providing approximate copies of qubits given by various probability distributions, and is optimized for distributions with axial symmetry. Direct applications of the proposed solution are possible in quantum technologies, doubling the range where quantum information is coherently broadcast. It also outperforms natural nonlinear amplifiers that use stimulated emission in bulk nonlinear materials. We consider the amplifier to be an important tool for amplifying quantum information sent via quantum channels with phase-independent damping., Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures (Fig.1 fixed)

The universal forms of quantum density and phase correlations after an interaction quench are found for dilute 1d, 2d, and 3d condensates. A Bogoliubov approach in a local density aproximation is used. We obtain compact expressions for the most visible effects. Our results show how loss of phase coherence and antibunching are built up after the quench by quantum fluctuations. We demonstrate further that the density correlations can be observed even with imaging resolution much worse than healing length. This indicates that the direct measurement of counterpropagating atom pairs in situ in a continuum system is realistic. The conditions in contemporary 1d experiments are especially favorable for the correlation wave observations., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, final version (only minor changes since v2)

Entanglement between macroscopically populated states can easily be created by combining a single photon and a bright coherent state on a beam-splitter. Motivated by the simplicity of this technique, we report on a method using displacement operations in the phase space and basic photon detections to reveal such an entanglement. We demonstrate through preliminary experimental results, that this eminently feasible approach provides an attractive way for exploring entanglement at various scales, ranging from one to a thousand photons. This offers an instructive viewpoint to gain insight into the reasons that make it hard to observe quantum features in our macroscopic world., Comment: 6 pages, 10 figures. v2: Updated version. The corresponding experiment is reported in arXiv:1212.3710. See also arXiv:1306.0843

Quantum entanglement is a fascinating phenomenon, especially if it is observed at the macroscopic scale. Importantly, macroscopic quantum correlations can be revealed only by accurate measurement outcomes and strategies. Here, we formulate feasible entanglement witnesses for bright squeezed vacuum in the form of the macroscopically populated polarization triplet Bell states. Their testing involves efficient photodetection and the measurement of the Stokes operators variances. We also calculate the measures of entanglement for these states such as the Schmidt number and the logarithmic negativity. Our results show that the bright squeezed vacuum degree of polarization entanglement scales as the mean photon number squared. We analyze the applicability of an operational analog of the Schmidt number., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

Macroscopically populated quantum superpositions pose a question to what extent macroscopic world obeys quantum mechanical laws. Recently such superpositions for light, generated by optimal quantum cloner, were demonstrated. They are of fundamental and technological interest. We present numerical methods useful for modeling of these states. Their properties are governed by Gaussian hypergeometric function, which cannot be reduced to neither elementary nor easily tractable functions. We discuss the method of efficient computation of this function for half integer parameters and moderate value of its argument. We show how to dynamically estimate a cutoff for infinite sums involving this function performed over its parameters. Our algorithm exceeds double precision and is parallelizable. Depending on the experimental parameters it chooses one of the several ways of summation to achieve the best efficiency. Methods presented here can be adjusted for analysis of similar experimental schemes., Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Comp. Phys. Commun

Quantum correlations may violate the Bell inequalities. Most of the experimental schemes confirming this prediction have been realized in all-optical Bell tests suffering from the detection loophole. Experiment which closes this loophole and the locality loophole simultaneously is highly desirable and remains challenging. A novel approach to a loophole-free Bell tests is based on amplification of the entangled photons, i.e.\@ on macroscopic entanglement, which optical signal should be easy to detect. However, the macroscopic states are partially indistinguishable by the classical detectors. An interesting idea to overcome these limitations is to replace the postselection by an appropriate preselection immediately after the amplification. This is in the spirit of state preprocessing revealing hidden nonlocality. Here, we examine one of possible preselections, but the presented tools can be used for analysis of other schemes. Filtering methods making the macroscopic entanglement useful for Bell test and quantum protocols are the subject of an intensive study in the field nowadays., Comment: 4 pages

We discuss a device capable of filtering out two-mode states of light with mode populations differing by more than a certain threshold, while not revealing which mode is more populated. It would allow engineering of macroscopic quantum states of light in a way which is preserving specific superpositions. As a result, it would enhance optical phase estimation with these states as well as distinguishability of "macroscopic" qubits. We propose an optical scheme, which is a relatively simple, albeit non-ideal, operational implementation of such a filter. It uses tapping of the original polarization two-mode field, with a polarization neutral beam splitter of low reflectivity. Next, the reflected beams are suitably interfered on a polarizing beam splitter. It is oriented such that it selects unbiased polarization modes with respect to the original ones. The more an incoming two-mode Fock state is unequally populated, the more the polarizing beam splitter output modes are equally populated. This effect is especially pronounced for highly populated states. Additionally, for such states we expect strong population correlations between the original fields and the tapped one. Thus, after a photon-number measurement of the polarizing beam splitter outputs, a feed-forward loop can be used to let through a shutter the field, which was transmitted by the tapping beam splitter. This happens only if the counts at the outputs are roughly equal. In such a case, the transmitted field differs strongly in occupation number of the two modes, while information on which mode is more populated is non-existent (a necessary condition for preserving superpositions)., Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures

Non-Gaussian states represent a powerful resource for quantum information protocols in the continuous variables regime. Cat states, in particular, have been produced in the motional degree of freedom of trapped ions by controlled displacements dependent on the ionic internal state. An alternative method harnesses the Kerr nonlinearity naturally existent in this kind of system. We present detailed calculations confirming its feasibility for typical experimental conditions. Additionally, this method permits the generation of complex non-Gaussian states with negative Wigner functions. Especially, superpositions of many coherent states are achieved at a fraction of the time necessary to produce the cat state., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures

We study experimentally demonstrated single-electron ${}^{12}$C CNT QD with significant spin-orbit interaction as a scalable quantum computer candidate. Both electron spin and orbital angular momentum can serve as a logical qubit for quantum processing. We introduce macroscopic quantum memory for the system in a form of injected either magnetic or spin carrying atomic ensemble into the nanotube. CNT provides with a stable atomic trap in finite temperature and with one-dimensional nuclear spin lattice in an external magnetic field. The electron is coupled to the atomic ensemble through either magnetic or hyperfine interaction. Easy electron and nuclear spin read-out procedure for this system is possible., Comment: Preliminary version

We discuss the possibilities of studying in detail the dynamics of spontaneous emission of a single photon by a single atom and measuring the transient degree of squeezing by means of full solid angle fluorescence detection., Comment: Accepted for publication in Optics Communications

The efficient interaction between single photons and single matter objects in free space is of key importance for quantum technologies. An experimental setup for testing this possibility involves single two-level ion trapped at the focus of a parabolic metallic mirror. We study the conditions for the setup, under which the assumption about the free-space mode structure of the radiation field in the vicinity of the atom is justified. In our analysis we apply vectorial properties of light by including polarization degree of freedom. We look for possible changes in the spontaneous emission rate of the atom resulting from the presence of the parabolic boundary conditions., Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures; Open Syst. Inf. Dyn. 19 (2012)

According to the Gottesmann-Knill theorem the non-Gaussian states are necessary component for a nontrivial quantum computation. We show two efficient and deterministic methods of $\chi^{(3)}$ non-Gaussian state generation for a cavity mode using a single trapped ion. Both require ion motional state transfer to the cavity field. The methods are experimentally feasible. The first is based on the well-known protocol for an ion finite motional superposition state generation. It allows for an arbitrary good approximation of $\chi^{(3)}$ non-Gaussian states. We give criteria based on the Wigner function which quantify the error resulting from the approximation. The second and novel method enables an exact non-Gaussian state generation using one laser pulse only., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures

We propose a scheme for perfect excitation of a single two-level atom by a single photon in free space. The photon state has to match the time reversed photon state originating from spontaneous decay of a two-level system. We discuss its experimental preparation. The state is characterized by a particular asymmetric exponentially-shaped temporal profile. Any deviations from this ideal state limit the maximum absorption. Although perfect excitation requires an infinite amount of time we demonstrate that there is a class of initial one-photon quantum states which can achieve almost perfect absorption even for a finite interaction time. Our results pave the way for realizing perfect coupling between flying and stationary qubits in free space thus opening a possibility for building scalable quantum networks., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures

Almost all Bell-inequality experiments to date have used postselection, and therefore relied on the fair sampling assumption for their interpretation. The standard form of the fair sampling assumption is that the loss is independent of the measurement settings, so the ensemble of detected systems provides a fair statistical sample of the total ensemble. This is often assumed to be needed to interpret Bell inequality experiments as ruling out hidden-variable theories. Here we show that it is not necessary; the loss can depend on measurement settings, provided the detection efficiency factorises as a function of the measurement settings and any hidden variable. This condition implies that Tsirelson's bound must be satisfied for entangled states. On the other hand, we show that it is possible for Tsirelson's bound to be violated while the CHSH-Bell inequality still holds for unentangled states, and present an experimentally feasible example., Comment: 12 pages, includes experimental proposal

We find that Bell's inequality can be significantly violated (up to Tsirelson's bound) with two-mode entangled coherent states using only homodyne measurements. This requires Kerr nonlinear interactions for local operations on the entangled coherent states. Our example is a demonstration of Bell-inequality violations using classical measurements. We conclude that entangled coherent states with coherent amplitudes as small as 0.842 are sufficient to produce such violations., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. A

We present an effective method of coherent state superposition (cat state) generation using single trapped ion in a Paul trap. The method is experimentally feasible for coherent states with amplitude $\alpha \le 2$ using available technology. It works both in and beyond the Lamb-Dicke regime., Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures

We present a technique for measuring the second-order coherence function $g^{(2)}(\tau)$ of light using a Hanbury-Brown Twiss intensity interferometer modified for homodyne detection. The experiment was performed entirely in the continuous variable regime at the sideband frequency of a bright carrier field. We used the setup to characterize $g^{(2)}(\tau)$ for thermal and coherent states, and investigated its immunity to optical loss. We measured $g^{(2)}(\tau)$ of a displaced squeezed state, and found a best anti-bunching statistic of $g^{(2)}(0) = 0.11 \pm 0.18$., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures

We propose to use Stokes parameter as an entanglement witness for correlated EPR mixed states of light. Such states can be generated with a beam splitter acting on two mixed squeezed states of light. Stokes witness operators are closely related to the Hanbury-Brown and Twiss interference and can be used to test entanglement in balanced homodyne experiments involving fluctuations of quantum quadratures of the electric field., Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

A Fokker-Planck equation for the Wigner function evolution in a noisy Kerr medium ($\chi^{(3)}$ non-linearity) is presented. We numerically solved this equation taking a coherent state as an initial condition. The dissipation effects are discussed. We provide examples of quantum interference, sub-Planck phase space structures, and Gaussian versus non-Gaussian dynamical evolution of the state. The results also apply to the description of a nanomechanical resonator with an intrinsic Duffing nonlinearity., Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures

The separability of the continuous-variable EPR state can be tested with Hanbury-Brown and Twiss type interference. The second-order visibility of such interference can provide an experimental test of entanglement. It is shown that time-resolved interference leads to the Hong, Ou and Mandel deep, that provides a signature of quantum non-separability for pure and mixed EPR states. A Hanbury-Brown and Twiss type witness operator can be constructed to test the quantum nature of the EPR entanglement., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures

Second-order interference and Hanbury-Brown and Twiss type experiments can provide an operational framework for the construction of witness operators that can test classical and nonclassical properties of a Gaussian squeezed state (GSS), and provide entanglement witness operators to study the separability properties of correlated Gaussian squeezed sates., Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures