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arXiv:1905.05247 · Physical Review Letters

Quantum Rabi Oscillations in Coherent and in Mesoscopic Cat Field States

F. Assémat, Dorian Grosso, Adrien Signoles, Adrien Facon, I. Dotsenko, S. Haroche, J. M. Raimond, M. Brune, S. Gleyzes

Published Oct 2, 2019• 30 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The simple resonant Rabi oscillation of a two-level system in a single-mode coherent field reveals complex features at the mesoscopic scale, with oscillation collapses and revivals. Using slow circular Rydberg atoms interacting with a superconducting microwave cavity, we explore this phenomenon in an unprecedented range of interaction times and photon numbers. We demonstrate the efficient production of cat states, which are the quantum superposition of coherent components with nearly opposite phases and sizes in the range of few tens of photons. We measure cuts of their Wigner functions revealing their quantum coherence and observe their fast decoherence. This experiment opens promising perspectives for the rapid generation and manipulation of nonclassical states in cavity and circuit quantum electrodynamics.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.123.143605

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We investigate the behavior of NNN atoms resonantly coupled to a single electromagnetic field mode sustained by a high quality cavity, containing a mesoscopic coherent field. We show with a simple effective Hamiltonian model that the strong coupling between the cavity and the atoms produces an atom-field entangled state, involving N+1N+1N+1 nearly coherent components slowly rotating at different paces in the phase plane. The periodic overlap of these components results in a complex collapse and revival pattern for the Rabi oscillation. We study the influence of decoherence due to the finite cavity quality factor. We propose a simple analytical model, based on the Monte Carlo approach to relaxation. We compare its predictions with exact calculations and show that these interesting effects could realistically be observed on a two or three atoms sample in a 15 photon field with circular Rydberg atoms and superconducting cavities.
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The cover page shows snapshots of a decaying Schrödinger cat Wigner function. This is a quasi-probability distribution for the amplitude of a microwave field stored in an ultra-high quality superconducting cavity. A single circular Rydberg atom interacting with a coherent state produces a quantum superposition of two fields with different phases. The two positive peaks in the Wigner function (front) are centered on the classical amplitudes of these components. The interference pattern in-between indicates the quantum nature of the superposition. As time proceeds (from front to rear), the interference pattern vanishes, revealing the rapid decoherence of a mesoscopic quantum state superposition.
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