Entangling Schrödinger’s cat states by bridging discrete- and continuous-variable encoding
Abstract In quantum information processing, two primary research directions have emerged: one based on discrete variables (DV) and the other on the structure of quantum states in a continuous-variable (CV) space. Integrating these two approaches could unlock new potentials, overcoming their respecti...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56503-8 |
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| Summary: | Abstract In quantum information processing, two primary research directions have emerged: one based on discrete variables (DV) and the other on the structure of quantum states in a continuous-variable (CV) space. Integrating these two approaches could unlock new potentials, overcoming their respective limitations. Here, we show that such a DV–CV hybrid approach, applied to superconducting Kerr parametric oscillators (KPOs), enables us to entangle a pair of Schrödinger’s cat states by two methods. The first involves the entanglement-preserving conversion between Bell states in the Fock-state basis (DV encoding) and those in the cat-state basis (CV encoding). The second method implements a $$\sqrt{{{{\rm{iSWAP}}}}}$$ iSWAP gate between two cat states following the procedure for Fock-state encoding. This simple and fast gate operation completes a universal quantum gate set in a KPO system. Our work offers powerful applications of DV–CV hybridization and marks a first step toward developing a multi-qubit platform based on planar KPO systems. |
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| ISSN: | 2041-1723 |