It is shown that the field in a cavity, periodically kicked with classical pulses and containing a nonlinear Kerr medium, can reach the one-photon quantum state if the amplitude of the kicks and the time between the kicks are appropriately chosen.

Analyses of phenomena exhibiting finite-time decay of quantum entanglement have recently attracted considerable attention. Such decay is often referred to as sudden vanishing (or sudden death) of entanglement, which can be followed by its sudden reappearance (or sudden rebirth). We analyze various finite-time decays (for dissipative systems) and analogous periodic vanishings (for unitary systems) of nonclassical correlations as described by violations of classical inequalities and the corresponding nonclassicality witnesses (or quantumness witnesses), which are not necessarily entanglement witnesses. We show that these sudden vanishings are universal phenomena and can be observed: (i) not only for two- or multimode but also for single-mode nonclassical fields, (ii) not solely for dissipative systems, and (iii) at evolution times which are usually different from those of sudden vanishings and reappearances of quantum entanglement.

A two-mode optical parity-time ($\mathcal{PT}$) symmetric system, with gain and damping, described by a quantum quadratic Hamiltonian with additional small Kerr-like nonlinear terms, is analyzed from the point of view of nonclassical-light generation. Two kinds of stationary states with different types of (in)stability are revealed. Properties of one of these are related to the presence of semiclassical exceptional points, i.e., exotic degeneracies of the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian describing the studied system without quantum jumps. The evolution of the logarithmic negativity, principal squeezing variances, and sub-shot-noise photon-number correlations, considered as entanglement and nonclassicality quantifiers, is analyzed in the approximation of linear-operator corrections to the classical solution. Suitable conditions for nonclassical-light generation are identified in the oscillatory regime, especially at and around exceptional points that considerably enhance the nonlinear interaction and, thus, the nonclassicality of the generated light. The role of quantum fluctuations, inevitably accompanying attenuation and amplification in the evolution of quantum states, is elucidated. The evolution of the system is analyzed for different initial conditions.

Two nonlinear Kerr oscillators mutually coupled by parametric pumping are studied as a source of states entangled in photon numbers. Temporal evolution of entanglement quantified by negativity shows the effects of sudden death and birth of entanglement. Entanglement is preserved even in asymptotic states under certain conditions. The role of reservoirs at finite temperature in entanglement evolution is elucidated. Relation between generation of entangled states and violation of Cauchy-Schwartz inequality for oscillator intensities is found.