%0 Journal Article %1 johnson2016ultrafast %A Johnson, K. G. %A Wong-Campos, J. D. %A Neyenhuis, B. %A Mizrahi, J. %A Monroe, C. %D 2016 %K Yb experiment from:klhamm ions %T Ultrafast Creation of Large "Schrödinger Cat" States of an Atom %U http://arxiv.org/abs/1612.05854 %X Mesoscopic quantum superpositions, or "Schrödinger cat states," are widely studied for fundamental investigations of quantum measurement and decoherence as well as potential 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 cat state superpositions in atoms.

@article{johnson2016ultrafast, abstract = {Mesoscopic quantum superpositions, or "Schr\"odinger cat states," are widely studied for fundamental investigations of quantum measurement and decoherence as well as potential 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 cat state superpositions in atoms.}, added-at = {2016-12-20T14:12:22.000+0100}, author = {Johnson, K. G. and Wong-Campos, J. D. and Neyenhuis, B. and Mizrahi, J. and Monroe, C.}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/229de9503434b7479ae52c2ca25f66624/journalclubqo}, description = {[1612.05854] Ultrafast Creation of Large "Schr\"odinger Cat" States of an Atom}, interhash = {355e743a053a0c91c936a6adc6063337}, intrahash = {29de9503434b7479ae52c2ca25f66624}, keywords = {Yb experiment from:klhamm ions}, note = {cite arxiv:1612.05854}, timestamp = {2016-12-20T14:54:36.000+0100}, title = {Ultrafast Creation of Large "Schr\"odinger Cat" States of an Atom}, url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/1612.05854}, year = 2016 }