Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1302.7087 · APS

Deterministic macroscopic quantum superpositions of motion via quadratic optomechanical coupling

Huatang Tan, Francesco Bariani, Gao‐xiang Li, Pierre Meystre

Published Feb 28, 2013• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We propose a scheme to prepare macroscopic quantum superpositions of motion in optomachanical nano- or micromechanical oscillators quadratically coupled to an intracavity field. The nonlinear optomechanical coupling leads to an effective degenerate three-wave mixing interaction between the mechanical and cavity modes. The quantum superpositions result from the combined effects of the interaction and cavity dissipation. We show analytically and confirm numerically that various deterministic quantum superpositions can be achieved, depending on initial mechanical state. The effect of mechanical damping is also studied in detail via the negativity of the Wigner function. The present scheme can be realized in various optomechanical systems with current technology.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1302.7087

Related papers

Generation of macroscopic quantum superpositions of optomechanical oscillators by dissipation

Huatang Tan, Francesco Bariani, Gao‐xiang Li +1 more

We propose a scheme that exploits the combined effects of nonlinear dynamics and dissipation to generate macroscopic quantum superpositions in massive optomechanical oscillators. The effective degenerate three-wave mixing interaction between the mechanical and optical cavity modes that results from quadratic optomechanical coupling, together with the cavity dissipation, can result in the existence of dark macroscopic superpositions. We show analytically and confirm numerically that various quantum superpositions can be achieved deterministically, depending on the initial state of the mechanics. The effects of mechanical damping are also studied in detail and quantified by the negativity of the Wigner function. The present scheme can be realized in various optomechanical systems with current technology.

Physical Review A•Aug 12, 2013•76 citations

Macroscopic superposition states of a mechanical oscillator in an optomechanical system with quadratic coupling

Hong Xie, Xiao Shang, Chang-Geng Liao +2 more

We present a proposal to prepare the macroscopic superposition states of a mechanical oscillator in an optomechanical system with quadratic coupling. By coherently driving the optomechanical cavity with an external field, a Kerr-type interaction among phonons is induced. The macroscopic mechanical superposition can be generated by exploiting the Kerr nonlinearity in the mechanical oscillator, just as the generation of a nonclassical state of light in a Kerr medium. One merit of our proposal is that the Kerr nonlinearity can be strongly enhanced by adjusting the amplitude of the driving field. The influence of the system damping on the realization of mechanical non-Gaussian state is discussed by the negativity of the Wigner function. The results show that the macroscopic superposition states are robust against the mechanical thermal noise.

Physical Review A•Sep 4, 2019•24 citations

Deterministic quantum superpositions and Fock states of mechanical oscillators via quantum interference in single-photon cavity optomechanics

Huatang Tan

In this paper, we propose a scheme for deterministically preparing a quantum superposition $|{\ensuremath{\psi}}_{s}{\ensuremath{\rangle}}_{b}={C}_{0}{|0\ensuremath{\rangle}}_{b}+{C}_{\mathcal{N}}{|\mathcal{N}\ensuremath{\rangle}}_{b}$ between vacuum and an arbitrary Fock state ${|\mathcal{N}\ensuremath{\rangle}}_{b}$ of mechanical oscillators via strong single-photon optomechanical coupling. We consider an optomechanical cavity which contains a Kerr medium and is driven by two lasers, with one laser tuned to the cavity resonance and the other to the $\mathcal{N}$th lower sideband of the cavity. The amplitudes ${C}_{0}$ and ${C}_{\mathcal{N}}$ are determined only by the drive strengths in the absence of mechanical damping and the approximate Fock state $|{\ensuremath{\psi}}_{s}{\ensuremath{\rangle}}_{b}\ensuremath{\approx}{|\mathcal{N}\ensuremath{\rangle}}_{b}$ can be obtained with appropriate relative strengths of the lasers. It is revealed that the superposition results from destructive quantum interference. The analytical results are confirmed by exact numerical calculation, and it is also shown that the nonclassical state is robust against thermal mechanical noise.

Physical Review A•May 27, 2014•20 citations

Towards Macroscopic Quantum Effects Using Optomechanical and Optical Systems

Roohollah Ghobadi

In this thesis, I studied two different approaches which are promising for creating macroscopic quantum superpositions. The first approach, which is the main focus of this thesis, is based on optomechanical systems. The basic challenge to realize quantum effects in optomechanical systems, is considered to be the weak optomechanical coupling rate compared to the decoherence rates of the system caused by the cavity and mechanical damping. To enhance the optomechanical coupling it has been suggested to pump the cavity with coherent laser light \cite{Vitali07}. By this method the strong coupling regime in which the optomechanical coupling rate exceeds all decoherence rates has been demonstrated very recently \cite{Verhagen12,Groblacher09}. It is also known that the optomechanical systems may exhibit nonlinear behaviours such as bistability. After introducing the basic ideas of optomechanical systems in chapter 1, in chapter 2 we studied the connection between optomechanical entanglement and bistability. In chapter 3, we studied the drawback of using a laser to enhance the interaction. We studied the effect of the laser phase noise, as an additional decoherence channel, on the optomechanical entanglement. We have shown that the system is very sensitive to this new source of decoherence and the sensitivity is maximum in the bistable threshold. We discussed that our results are independent of how we model the laser phase noise. In chapter 4, we studied single photon optomechanics. In this regime, we proposed a new scheme to enhance the optomechanical coupling based on post selection. Our scheme is potentially promising to create a superposition of the massive oscillator in different motional states. We also discussed the potential application of our scheme to test some decoherence models. The second approach that we consider in this thesis is based on amplifying single photons with high gain to create micro-macro superpositions . In chapter 5, we discussed the De Martini scheme. We then present our scheme for creating optical micro-macro superposition and discussed its experimental realization under realistic conditions when losses are taken into account.

•Jan 1, 2013•0 citations

Generation of the mechanical Schrödinger cat state in a hybrid atom-optomechanical system

Najmeh Etehadi Abari, M. H. Naderi

In this paper, we propose a new theoretical scheme for generating a macroscopic Schrödinger cat state of a mechanical oscillator in a hybrid optomechanical system where a beam of two-level atoms passes through the cavity. In the model under consideration, the cavity field couples to the macroscopic mirror through the optomechanical interaction while it couples to the atom through a generalized Jaynes–Cummings interaction that involves the cavity-mode structure. The motion of the mirror modifies the cavity-mode function and therefore modulates the atom-field interaction, leading to the three-mode atom-field-mirror coupling or, equivalently, polariton-mirror coupling in a dressed picture. This interaction induces a controllable anharmonicity in the energy spectrum of the mechanical oscillator, which provides the possibility of generating a superposition of two time-dependent coherent states of the mechanical oscillator just by performing a conditional measurement on the internal states of the atoms exiting the optomechanical cavity. We also investigate the tripartite atom-field-mirror entanglement, which is controllable by adjusting the parameters of the system. In addition, we explore the effects of the mechanical dissipation and thermal noise on the tripartite quantum correlation in the system as well as the generated mechanical superposition state.

Journal of the Optical Society of America B•Jun 2, 2020•9 citations

Optomechanics assisted by a qubit: From dissipative state preparation to many-partite systems

Anika C. Pflanzer, Oriol Romero‐Isart, J. I. Cirac

We propose and analyze nonlinear optomechanical protocols that can be implemented by adding a single atom to an optomechanical cavity. In particular, we show how to engineer the environment in order to dissipatively prepare the mechanical oscillator in a superposition of Fock states with fidelity close to 1. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a single atom in a cavity with several mechanical oscillators can be exploited to realize nonlinear many-partite systems by stroboscopically driving the mechanical oscillators. This can be used to prepare nonlinear many-partite states by applying either coherent protocols or engineering dissipation. The analysis of the protocols is carried out using a perturbation theory for degenerate Liouvillians and numerical tools. Our results apply to other systems where a qubit is coupled to a mechanical oscillator via a bosonic mode, e.g., in cavity quantum electromechanics.

arXiv:1305.6840•Physical Review A•Sep 4, 2013•30 citations
We propose a scheme to prepare macroscopic quantum superpositions of motion in optomachanical nano- or micromechanical oscillators quadratically coupled to an intracavity field. The nonlinear optomechanical coupling leads to an effective degenerate three-wave mixing interaction between the mechanical and cavity modes. The quantum superpositions result from the combined effects of the interaction and cavity dissipation. We show analytically and confirm numerically that various deterministic quantum superpositions can be achieved, depending on initial mechanical state. The effect of mechanical damping is also studied in detail via the negativity of the Wigner function. The present scheme can be realized in various optomechanical systems with current technology.
We propose a scheme that exploits the combined effects of nonlinear dynamics and dissipation to generate macroscopic quantum superpositions in massive optomechanical oscillators. The effective degenerate three-wave mixing interaction between the mechanical and optical cavity modes that results from quadratic optomechanical coupling, together with the cavity dissipation, can result in the existence of dark macroscopic superpositions. We show analytically and confirm numerically that various quantum superpositions can be achieved deterministically, depending on the initial state of the mechanics. The effects of mechanical damping are also studied in detail and quantified by the negativity of the Wigner function. The present scheme can be realized in various optomechanical systems with current technology.
We present a proposal to prepare the macroscopic superposition states of a mechanical oscillator in an optomechanical system with quadratic coupling. By coherently driving the optomechanical cavity with an external field, a Kerr-type interaction among phonons is induced. The macroscopic mechanical superposition can be generated by exploiting the Kerr nonlinearity in the mechanical oscillator, just as the generation of a nonclassical state of light in a Kerr medium. One merit of our proposal is that the Kerr nonlinearity can be strongly enhanced by adjusting the amplitude of the driving field. The influence of the system damping on the realization of mechanical non-Gaussian state is discussed by the negativity of the Wigner function. The results show that the macroscopic superposition states are robust against the mechanical thermal noise.
In this paper, we propose a scheme for deterministically preparing a quantum superposition $|{\ensuremath{\psi}}_{s}{\ensuremath{\rangle}}_{b}={C}_{0}{|0\ensuremath{\rangle}}_{b}+{C}_{\mathcal{N}}{|\mathcal{N}\ensuremath{\rangle}}_{b}$ between vacuum and an arbitrary Fock state ${|\mathcal{N}\ensuremath{\rangle}}_{b}$ of mechanical oscillators via strong single-photon optomechanical coupling. We consider an optomechanical cavity which contains a Kerr medium and is driven by two lasers, with one laser tuned to the cavity resonance and the other to the N\mathcal{N}Nth lower sideband of the cavity. The amplitudes C0{C}_{0}C0​ and CN{C}_{\mathcal{N}}CN​ are determined only by the drive strengths in the absence of mechanical damping and the approximate Fock state $|{\ensuremath{\psi}}_{s}{\ensuremath{\rangle}}_{b}\ensuremath{\approx}{|\mathcal{N}\ensuremath{\rangle}}_{b}$ can be obtained with appropriate relative strengths of the lasers. It is revealed that the superposition results from destructive quantum interference. The analytical results are confirmed by exact numerical calculation, and it is also shown that the nonclassical state is robust against thermal mechanical noise.
In this thesis, I studied two different approaches which are promising for creating macroscopic quantum superpositions. The first approach, which is the main focus of this thesis, is based on optomechanical systems. The basic challenge to realize quantum effects in optomechanical systems, is considered to be the weak optomechanical coupling rate compared to the decoherence rates of the system caused by the cavity and mechanical damping. To enhance the optomechanical coupling it has been suggested to pump the cavity with coherent laser light \cite{Vitali07}. By this method the strong coupling regime in which the optomechanical coupling rate exceeds all decoherence rates has been demonstrated very recently \cite{Verhagen12,Groblacher09}. It is also known that the optomechanical systems may exhibit nonlinear behaviours such as bistability. After introducing the basic ideas of optomechanical systems in chapter 1, in chapter 2 we studied the connection between optomechanical entanglement and bistability. In chapter 3, we studied the drawback of using a laser to enhance the interaction. We studied the effect of the laser phase noise, as an additional decoherence channel, on the optomechanical entanglement. We have shown that the system is very sensitive to this new source of decoherence and the sensitivity is maximum in the bistable threshold. We discussed that our results are independent of how we model the laser phase noise. In chapter 4, we studied single photon optomechanics. In this regime, we proposed a new scheme to enhance the optomechanical coupling based on post selection. Our scheme is potentially promising to create a superposition of the massive oscillator in different motional states. We also discussed the potential application of our scheme to test some decoherence models. The second approach that we consider in this thesis is based on amplifying single photons with high gain to create micro-macro superpositions . In chapter 5, we discussed the De Martini scheme. We then present our scheme for creating optical micro-macro superposition and discussed its experimental realization under realistic conditions when losses are taken into account.
In this paper, we propose a new theoretical scheme for generating a macroscopic Schrödinger cat state of a mechanical oscillator in a hybrid optomechanical system where a beam of two-level atoms passes through the cavity. In the model under consideration, the cavity field couples to the macroscopic mirror through the optomechanical interaction while it couples to the atom through a generalized Jaynes–Cummings interaction that involves the cavity-mode structure. The motion of the mirror modifies the cavity-mode function and therefore modulates the atom-field interaction, leading to the three-mode atom-field-mirror coupling or, equivalently, polariton-mirror coupling in a dressed picture. This interaction induces a controllable anharmonicity in the energy spectrum of the mechanical oscillator, which provides the possibility of generating a superposition of two time-dependent coherent states of the mechanical oscillator just by performing a conditional measurement on the internal states of the atoms exiting the optomechanical cavity. We also investigate the tripartite atom-field-mirror entanglement, which is controllable by adjusting the parameters of the system. In addition, we explore the effects of the mechanical dissipation and thermal noise on the tripartite quantum correlation in the system as well as the generated mechanical superposition state.
We propose and analyze nonlinear optomechanical protocols that can be implemented by adding a single atom to an optomechanical cavity. In particular, we show how to engineer the environment in order to dissipatively prepare the mechanical oscillator in a superposition of Fock states with fidelity close to 1. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a single atom in a cavity with several mechanical oscillators can be exploited to realize nonlinear many-partite systems by stroboscopically driving the mechanical oscillators. This can be used to prepare nonlinear many-partite states by applying either coherent protocols or engineering dissipation. The analysis of the protocols is carried out using a perturbation theory for degenerate Liouvillians and numerical tools. Our results apply to other systems where a qubit is coupled to a mechanical oscillator via a bosonic mode, e.g., in cavity quantum electromechanics.