Schr\"{o}dinger cat states of a macroscopic charged particle co-trapped with an ion

TL;DR

This paper explores creating and observing quantum superpositions of a macroscopic charged particle co-trapped with an ion, using established ion-trap techniques to test quantum superposition limits at macroscopic scales.

Contribution

It proposes a novel method to generate and detect Schrödinger cat states of a micron-sized charged particle using ion trapping technology.

Findings

Feasibility of creating macroscopic superpositions up to $ ext{M}=17$

Utilizes ion trap control techniques for macroscopic quantum state manipulation

Provides a test for dynamical reduction models of quantum superpositions

Abstract

We investigate the feasibility of observing matter-wave interference of a micron-sized charged particle by putting it into a quantum superposition of states with a distinguishable separation. In the proposed method, an atomic ion is confined in a linear Paul trap along with the massive charged particle so that we can make use of the extensive toolbox of experimental techniques developed to control quantum states of trapped ions, and to manipulate their motions with high fidelity operations. This approach provides a stringent test of the predictions of dynamical reduction models of delocalised quantum superpositions of a particle, reaching macroscopicities of up to $\mathcal{M}=17$.