Heralded orthogonalisation of coherent states and their conversion to discrete-variable superpositions

Abstract The nonorthogonality of coherent states is a fundamental property which prevents them from being perfectly and deterministically discriminated. Here, we present an experimentally feasible protocol for the probabilistic orthogonalisation of a pair of coherent states, independent of their amplitude and phase. In contrast to unambiguous state discrimination, a successful operation of our protocol is heralded without measuring the states. As such, they remain suitable for further manipulation and the obtained orthogonal states serve as a discretevariable basis. Therefore, our protocol doubles as a simple continuous-to-discrete variable converter, which may find application in hybrid continuous-discrete quantum information processing protocols.