Simulation of interaction Hamiltonians by quantum feedback: a comment on the dynamics of information exchange between coupled systems

Since quantum feedback is based on classically accessible measurement results, it can provide fundamental insights into the dynamics of quantum systems by making available classical information on the evolution of system properties and on the conditional forces acting on the system. In this paper, the feedback-induced interaction dynamics between a pair of quantum systems is analyzed. It is pointed out that any interaction Hamiltonian can be simulated by local feedback if the levels of decoherence are sufficiently high. The boundary between genuine entanglement generating quantum interactions and non-entangling classical interactions is identified and the nature of the information exchange between two quantum systems during an interaction is discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures; invited paper for the special issue of J. Opt. B on quantum contro

Generation of a highly phase sensitive polarization squeezed N-photon state by collinear parametric downconversion and coherent photon subtraction

It is shown that a highly phase sensitive polarization squeezed (2n-1)-photon state can be generated by subtracting a diagonally polarized photon from the 2n photon component generated in collinear type II downconversion. This polarization wedge state has the interesting property that its photon number distribution in the horizontal and vertical polarizations remains sharply defined for phase shifts of up to 1/n between the circularly polarized components. Phase shifts at the Heisenberg limit are therefore observed as nearly deterministic transfers of a single photon between the horizontal and vertical polarization components.Comment: 7 pages, including 5 figures, improved explanation of interferometry (one new figure

How weak values emerge in joint measurements on cloned quantum systems

A statistical analysis of optimal universal cloning shows that it is possible to identify an ideal (but non-positive) copying process that faithfully maps all properties of the original Hilbert space onto two separate quantum systems. The joint probabilities for non-commuting measurements on separate clones then correspond to the real parts of the complex joint probabilities observed in weak measurements on a single system, where the measurements on the two clones replace the corresponding sequence of weak measurement and post-selection. The imaginary parts of weak measurement statics can be obtained by replacing the cloning process with a partial swap operation. A controlled-swap operation combines both processes, making the complete weak measurement statistics accessible as a well-defined contribution to the joint probabilities of fully resolved projective measurements on the two output systems.Comment: 4 pages, major changes to title and introduction, improved explanation of weak measurement statistic