Quantum State Engineering with Continuous-Variable Post-Selection

Abstract: We present a scheme to conditionally engineer an optical quantum system via continuous-variable measurements. This scheme yields high-fidelity squeezed single photon and superposition of coherent states, from input single and two photon Fock states respectively. The input Fock state is interacted with an ancilla squeezed vacuum state using a beam-splitter. We transform the quantum system by post-selecting on the continuous-observable measurement outcome of the ancilla state. We experimentally demonstrate the principles of this scheme using displaced coherent states and measure experimentally fidelities that are only achievable using quantum resources.