Programmable optical parametric amplifier synthesizer for cubic phase states and amplified Schrodinger cat states
Abstract
We introduce a programmable optical parametric amplifier (OPA) synthesizer that, under a heralded photon-number-resolving framework, generates high-fidelity cubic phase states and amplifies Schrodinger cat states. By systematically exploring both the catalytic configuration, where the idler input and output contain the same number of photons (), and non-catalytic configurations (), we discover two qualitatively different functionalities. First, with a coherent-state signal input, our protocol generates cubic phase states with fidelity exceeding 0.99 across a broad range of configurations. Second, using a Schr\"odinger cat state as the signal input, the same framework amplifies the cat state: an input cat with amplitude is transformed into an output squeezed cat with while maintaining fidelity above 0.99. The catalytic configuration preserves the input parity and restores the idler state, whereas non-catalytic configurations enable parity-flipping amplification with higher success rates. Moreover, the amplified output can serve as a seed for subsequent amplification rounds, offering a self-seeding pathway to progressively larger cat states. Our protocol requires only moderate-gain OPA operation and low-order photon-number-resolving detection, providing a flexible and experimentally accessible platform for cubic phase state preparation and amplified squeezed cat state generation.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2606.31405,
title = {Programmable optical parametric amplifier synthesizer for cubic phase states and amplified Schrodinger cat states},
author = {Yusuf Turek and Ming-Yan Sun and Xiao-Xi Yao},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2606.31405},
year = {2026}
}