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Physical Review Letters

Generation of Nonclassical Motional States of a Trapped Atom

D. M. Meekhof, Christopher R. Monroe, B. E. King, W. M. Itano, D. J. Wineland

Published Mar 11, 1996• 1,135 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report the creation of thermal, Fock, coherent, and squeezed states of motion of a harmonically bound ${}^{9}{\mathrm{Be}}^{+}$ ion. The last three states are coherently prepared from an ion which has been initially laser cooled to the zero point of motion. The ion is trapped in the regime where the coupling between its motional and internal states, due to applied (classical) radiation, can be described by a Jaynes-Cummings-type interaction. With this coupling, the evolution of the internal atomic state provides a signature of the number state distribution of the motion.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.76.1796

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We report the creation of thermal, Fock, coherent, and squeezed states of motion of a harmonically bound 9 Be + ion. The last three states are coherently prepared from an ion which has been initially laser-cooled to the zero-point of motion. The ion is trapped in the regime where the coupling between its motional and internal states, due to applied (classical) radiation, can be described by a Jaynes-Cummings-type interaction. With this coupling, the evolution of the internal atomic state provides a signature of the number state distribution of the motion. PACS numbers:42.50.Vk, 32.80.Pj, 32.80.Qk Typeset using REVT E X Nonclassical states of the harmonic oscillator associated with a single mode of the radiation field (for example, squeezed states) have been a subject of considerable interest. One method for analyzing these states has been through the dynamics of a single, two-level atom which radiatively couples to the single mode radiation field. This system, described by the Ja...
A single ion trapped in a harmonic potential and laser cooled at the node of a standing wave can be described in terms of the Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian known in quantum optics. Similar to nonclassical states of light we propose to prepare nonclassical states of the ion motion in a harmonic trap. In particular, several schemes for the preparation of Fock states are presented, and techniques for the preparation of squeezed states and coherent states of the ion motion are indicated. For an observation of these nonclassical states we propose to measure quantum collapse and revival in the population inversion of a single trapped ion.
Abstract : We report the creation and full determination of several quantum states of motion of a 9Be ion bound in a RF (Paul) trap. The states are coherently prepared from an ion which has been initially laser cooled to the zero-point of motion. We create states having both classical and non-classical character including thermal, number, coherent, squeezed, and Schrodinger cat states. The motional quantum state is fully reconstructed using two novel schemes that determine the density matrix in the number state basis or the Wigner function. Our techniques allow well controlled experiments decoherence and related phenomena on the quantum-classical borderline.
We report the creation and full determination of several quantum states of motion of a 9Be+ ion bound in a RF (Paul) trap. The states are coherently prepared from an ion which has been initially laser cooled to the zero-point of motion. We create states having both classical and non-classical character including thermal, number, coherent, squeezed, and ‚Schrödinger cat‘ states. The motional quantum state is fully reconstructed using two novel schemes that determine the density matrix in the number state basis or the Wigner function. Our techniques allow well controlled experiments decoherence and related phenomena on the quantum-classical borderline.
We report the creation and full determination of several quantum states of motion of a 9Be+ ion bound in a RF (Paul) trap. The states are coherently prepared from an ion which has been initially laser cooled to the zero-point of motion. We create states having both classical and non-classical character including thermal, number, coherent, squeezed, and ‚Schrödinger cat‘ states. The motional quantum state is fully reconstructed using two novel schemes that determine the density matrix in the number state basis or the Wigner function. Our techniques allow well controlled experiments decoherence and related phenomena on the quantum-classical borderline.