‘Near’-Cat States: Nonclassicality and Generation

Abstract

We introduce new configurations of (anti-)symmetric superpositions of two ‘near’-coherent states, ∣α, δθ〉, shifted in phase by π, the latter being introduced by Othman et al. as a new class of quantum states attached to the simple harmonic oscillator and also generated via a Mach–Zehnder interferometer. To gain an insight into the effectiveness of these states in quantum information theory, we present a general analysis of nonclassical properties by evaluating the Mandel parameter, quadrature squeezing, amplitude-squared squeezing, and the Wigner distribution function. We show that the factor δθ plays an essential role in the nonclassical properties of these (anti-)symmetric superposed states. Finally, we propose a theoretical scheme to generate introduced states within a cavity QED framework.