Robust Preparation of Wigner-Negative States with Optimized SNAP-Displacement Sequences

Hosting nonclassical states of light in three-dimensional microwave cavities has emerged as a promising paradigm for continuous-variable quantum information processing. Here we experimentally demonstrate high-fidelity generation of a range of Wigner-negative states useful for quantum computation, such as Schrodinger-cat states, binomial states, Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill states, as well as cubic phase states. The latter states have been long sought after in quantum optics and have never been achieved experimentally before. We use a sequence of interleaved selective number-dependent arbitrary phase (SNAP) gates and displacements. We optimize the state preparation in two steps. First we use a gradient-descent algorithm to optimize the parameters of the SNAP and displacement gates. Then we optimize the envelope of the pulses implementing the SNAP gates. Our results show that this way of creating highly nonclassical states in a harmonic oscillator is robust to fluctuations of the system parameters such as the qubit frequency and the dispersive shift.

Automated summary

This research demonstrates a successful method for generating high-fidelity Wigner-negative states in a three-dimensional microwave cavity. Various states useful for quantum computation, including Schrodinger-cat states, binomial states, Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill states, and cubic phase states, are achieved. The optimization of SNAP gates and displacements, as well as control of pulse envelopes, ensures robustness against system parameter fluctuations.