Sensitive Schrödinger Cat States

Abstract: Strong laser-atom interactions can produce highly non-classical states of light by using the process of high-harmonic generation in atoms. When the high-harmonic generation is present, the quantum state of the fundamental mode following the interaction is known as the Schr\"odinger cat state, which is a superposition of the laser's initial coherent state and the coherent state with a smaller amplitude that results from its interaction with atoms. Here, we demonstrate that new light states with significantly different Wigner function distributions can be produced by combining two separate Schr\"odinger cat states. Through the engineering of Schr\"odinger cat states' parameters, we are able to produce Wigner functions that exhibit high sensitivity in relation to the system parameter. Our research paves the way for the creation of non-classical light by superposing Schr\"odinger cat states with application in such as quantum sensing.