Generation of squeezed-state superpositions via time-dependent Kerr nonlinearities

We put forward an experimental scheme for direct generation of optical squeezed coherent-state superpositions. The proposed setup makes use of an optical cavity, filled with a nonlinear Kerr medium, whose frequency is allowed to change during time evolution. By exactly solving the corresponding time-dependent anharmonic-oscillator Hamiltonian, we demonstrate that squeezed-state superpositions can be generated in an optical cavity. Furthermore, we show that the squeezing degree of the produced states can be tuned by properly controlling the frequency shift of the cavity, a feature that could be useful in many quantum information protocols, such as quantum teleportation and quantum computing.