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In the introduction to continuous-variable quantum computing by Strawberry Fields (Xanadu), it lists the primary CV gates (rotation, displacement, squeezing, beamsplitter, cubic phase) along with their unitary:

cv gates w/ unitary

What are the matrix representations of these gates?

user820789
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2 Answers2

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Background

Often, in quantum optics, the Heisenberg picture is used, where instead of considering equations of motion of states, equations of motions of operators are looked at instead. When considering creation/annihilation operators, this is often considerably easier as the matrices that determine the evolution (assuming it can be written in terms of matrices) are, for one, finite.

The Heisenberg equations of motions are calculated using $$\frac{dA}{dt} = \frac i\hbar \left[H, A\right] + \frac{\partial A}{\partial t},$$ for an operator $A$ evolving under a Hamiltonian $H$.

Here, the operator $a_j \left(a_j^\dagger\right)$ is the annihilation (creation) operator for spatial mode $j$. For a single mode, this allows for an effective Hamiltonian (acting on the operators) to be written as $$i\frac{d}{dt}\begin{pmatrix}a \\ a^\dagger\end{pmatrix} = H_{\text{eff}}\begin{pmatrix}a \\ a^\dagger\end{pmatrix}.$$ This naturally extends to writing their transformation as $$\begin{pmatrix}b \\ b^\dagger\end{pmatrix} = M\begin{pmatrix}a \\ a^\dagger\end{pmatrix}$$ for input modes $a \left(a^\dagger\right)$ and output modes $b \left(b^\dagger\right)$.

When it exists, this transformation matrix $M$ can be calculated using $U^\dagger A_jU = \sum_{k}M_{jk}A_k$ for unitary evolution $U$. For the Unitaries in the question, this gives:

Transformations

Displacement $$D_j\left(\alpha\right):\begin{pmatrix}b_j\\b_j^\dagger\\I\end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix}1 && 0 && \alpha\\0&&1&&\alpha^*\\0&&0&&1\end{pmatrix} \begin{pmatrix}a_j\\a_j^\dagger\\I\end{pmatrix}$$

Rotation $$R_j\left(\phi\right):\begin{pmatrix}b_j\\b_j^\dagger\end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix}e^{-i\phi} && 0\\0&&e^{i\phi}\end{pmatrix} \begin{pmatrix}a_j\\a_j^\dagger\end{pmatrix}$$

Squeezing $$S_j\left(\xi=re^{i\theta}\right):\begin{pmatrix}b_j\\b_j^\dagger\end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix}\cosh r && -e^{i\theta}\sinh r\\-e^{-i\theta}\sinh r&&\cosh r\end{pmatrix} \begin{pmatrix}a_j\\a_j^\dagger\end{pmatrix}$$

Beamsplitter $$B_{jk}\left(\zeta = te^{i\varphi}\right):\begin{pmatrix}b_j\\b_k\\b_j^\dagger\\b_k^\dagger\end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix}t && re^{-i\varphi}&&0&& 0\\re^{i\varphi}&&t&&0&&0\\0&&0&&t&&re^{i\varphi}\\0&&0&&re^{-i\varphi}&&t\end{pmatrix} \begin{pmatrix}a_j\\a_k\\a_j^\dagger\\a_k^\dagger\end{pmatrix},$$ where $r=\cos\left|\zeta\right|$.

Cubic Phase

Unfortunately, this is too nonlinear to write in the above way in matrix form. As $x = \frac{1}{\sqrt 2}\left(a+a^\dagger\right)$, even to first order, $V^\dagger a^\dagger V$ will include terms such as $\left[a^3, a^\dagger\right] = 3a^2$, which cannot be written in terms of $\alpha a^\dagger+\beta a+\gamma$.

Mithrandir24601
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The link you gave says:

The CV model is a natural fit for simulating bosonic systems (electromagnetic fields, harmonic oscillators, phonons, Bose-Einstein condensates, or optomechanical resonators) and for settings where continuous quantum operators – such as position & momentum – are present.

Which means you can have many different different matrix representations for the CV gates. They then point out:

The most elementary CV system is the bosonic harmonic oscillator.

This means that for any values of the scalar (non-matrix) parameters $\alpha, \gamma, \phi, z, \theta, \gamma$, you can just calculate the formula they gave you, using the following matrix representations for the creation and annihilation operators for a bosonic harmonic oscillator:

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The number operator $\hat{n}$ is just $a^\dagger a$.

Keep in mind that any matrix representation is basis-dependent, meaning that you can take these matrix representations and (for example) diagonalize them, and they would be a perfectly valid matrix representation in a new basis. However the matrices I gave you here are quite "standard" for quantum harmonic oscillators.