Quantum state engineering using weak measurements

State preparation via postselected weak measurements in a three-wave mixing process is studied. We assume the signal input mode is prepared in a vacuum state, coherent state, or squeezed vacuum state, while the idler input is prepared in a weak coherent state and passes the medium characterized by the second-order nonlinear susceptibility. It is shown that when the single photon is detected at one of the output channels of the idler beam's path, the signal output channel is prepared in a single-photon Fock state, single-photon-added coherent state, or single-photon-added squeezed vacuum state with very high fidelity, depending upon the input signal states and related controllable parameters. The properties of squeezing, signal amplification, second-order correlation, and the Wigner functions of the weak-measurement-based output states are also investigated. Our scheme promises to provide an alternate effective method for producing useful nonclassical states in quantum information processing.