Quantum superposition, entanglement, and state teleportation of a microorganism on an electromechanical oscillator

TL;DR

This paper proposes a method to create and manipulate quantum superposition states of a microorganism's center-of-mass motion using electromechanical oscillators and superconducting circuits, enabling potential teleportation of internal states.

Contribution

It introduces a feasible approach to achieve quantum superposition and teleportation of a microorganism's motion and internal states with current technology.

Findings

Ground state cooling of a microorganism on an electromechanical oscillator.

Proposal for entangling internal states with motion and teleporting them.

Utilization of quantum-limited magnetic resonance force microscopy.

Abstract

Schr\"odinger's thought experiment to prepare a cat in a superposition of both alive and dead states reveals profound consequences of quantum mechanics and has attracted enormous interests. Here we propose a straightforward method to create quantum superposition states of a living microorganism by putting a small cryopreserved bacterium on top of an electromechanical oscillator. Our proposal is based on recent developments that the center-of-mass oscillation of a 15-$\mu$m-diameter aluminium membrane has been cooled to its quantum ground state [Nature 475: 359 (2011)], and entangled with a microwave field [Science 342: 710 (2013)]. A microorganism with a mass much smaller than the mass of the electromechanical membrane will not significantly affect the quality factor of the membrane and can be cooled to the quantum ground state together with the membrane. Quantum superposition and teleportation of its center-of-mass motion state can be realized with the help of superconducting microwave circuits. More importantly, the internal states of a microorganism, such as the electron spin of a glycine radical, can be entangled with its center-of-mass motion and teleported to a remote microorganism. Our proposal can be realized with state-of-art technologies. The proposed setup is a quantum-limited magnetic resonance force microscope. Since internal states of an organism contain information, our proposal also provides a scheme for teleporting information or memories between two remote organisms.