Statistical properties of non-Gaussian quantum states generated via thermal state truncation

Abstract

Quantum scissors devices proposed by Pegg are beneficial to obtain highly nonclassical quantum states and indispensable for meeting the requirements of quantum information and computation. In this paper, via inputting and detecting single photon states, quantum scissor operation is equivalent to a mixed superposition of three pure state projection operators, which means that the output states are always truncated for any input state. We theoretically prepare a class of non-Gaussian quantum states via thermal state truncation and investigate their statistical properties using average photon number, gain intensity and signal to noise ratio. It is shown that the intensity gain and signal to noise ratio greater than one can be achieved by modulating the thermal parameter and the transmissivity, which realizes the signal amplification and enhancement. Besides, quantum scissor operation can generate the highly non-classical quantum state by investigating the negativity volume of Wigner function. These results indicate that the usage of the new non-Gaussian states may have potential applications in certain quantum information processing.