Generating single-photon catalyzed coherent states with quantum-optical catalysis

Abstract: We generate single-photon catalyzed coherent states (SPCCSs) by means of quantum-optical catalysis based on the beam splitter (BS) or the parametric amplifier (PA). These states are obtained in one of the BS (or PA) output channels if a coherent state and a single-photon Fock state are present in two input ports and a single photon is registered in the other output port. The success probabilities of the detection (also the normalization factors) are discussed, which is different for BS and PA catalysis. In addition, we prove that the generated states catalyzed by BS and PA devices are actually the same quantum states after analyzing photon number distribution of the SPCCSs. The quantum properties of the SPCCSs, such as sub-Poissionian distribution, anti-bunching effect, quadrature squeezing effect, and the negativity of the Wigner function are investigated in detail. The results shows that the SPCCSs are non-Gaussian states with an abundance of nonclassicality, which can provide the quantum advantages for quantum technological tasks.