Generating optical Schrodinger kittens for quantum information processing

We present a detailed experimental analysis of a free-propagating light pulse prepared in a Schrodinger kitten'' state, which is defined as a quantum superposition of classical'' coherent states with small amplitudes. This kitten state is generated by subtracting one photon from a squeezed vacuum beam, and it clearly presents a negative Wigner function. The predicted influence of the experimental parameters is in excellent agreement with the experimental results. The amplitude of the coherent states can be amplified to transform our Schrodinger kittens'' into bigger Schrodinger cats, providing an essential tool for quantum information processing.