Ultrafast Creation of Large Schr\"odinger Cat States of an Atom

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates ultrafast laser pulse techniques to create large and complex Schr"odinger cat states in a single trapped atom, enabling rapid generation and measurement of quantum superpositions beyond previous limits.

Contribution

It introduces a method using ultrafast laser pulses for fast, high-fidelity creation of large and complex atomic cat states in a harmonic oscillator.

Findings

Generated larger cat states than previously achieved.

Created complex multi-component superposition states.

Achieved rapid state generation and measurement.

Abstract

Mesoscopic quantum superpositions, or Schr\"odinger cat states, are widely studied for fundamental investigations of quantum measurement and decoherence as well as applications in sensing and quantum information science. The generation and maintenance of such states relies upon a balance between efficient external coherent control of the system and sufficient isolation from the environment. Here we create a variety of cat states of a single trapped atom's motion in a harmonic oscillator using ultrafast laser pulses. These pulses produce high fidelity impulsive forces that separate the atom into widely-separated positions, without restrictions that typically limit the speed of the interaction or the size and complexity of the resulting motional superposition. This allows us to quickly generate and measure cat states larger than previously achieved in a harmonic oscillator, and create complex multi-component superposition states in atoms.