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Optics Letters

Macroscopic quantum superpositions by means of single-atom dispersion

Craig M. Savage, Samuel L. Braunstein, Daniel F. Walls

Published May 15, 1990• 77 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We show that macroscopic quantum superpositions of the electromagnetic field can be generated through amplification of microscopic quantum superpositions prepared in a single atom. Our scheme has the advantage that dissipation is negligible, and hence the superpositions are not rapidly destroyed.
DOI
10.1364/ol.15.000628

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A method for generating macroscopically distinguishable superposition states via single atom dispersion was proposed by Savage et al. see Optics Letters, vol.15, p.628, 1990. In that model, the atomic linewidth was not considered. However, including the atomic linewidth, the authors get two contradictory conditions for the generation of distinguishable superposition states. This shows that the atomic linewidth prevents the formation of macroscopically distinguishable superposition states by the proposed method.
We study mesoscopic superpositions of two component Bose-Einstein condensates. Atomic condensates, with long coherence times, are good systems in which to study such quantum phenomena. We show that the mesoscopic superposition states can be rapidly generated in which the atoms dispersively interact with the photon field in a cavity. We also discuss the production of compass states which are macroscopic quantum superposition states. The physical realization of mesoscopic states is important in studying decoherence and precision measurement.
We study the generation of both coherent superpositions and mixtures of field states through the interaction of an initially coherent field state with a collection of two-level atoms. The proposed scheme to build up a given superposition is based on effective dispersive interactions which arise from both the large detuning limit and the strong-field limit. The coherent superposition is obtained by interacting with a classical field after the cluster leaves the cavity followed by a measurement of the atomic population.
We put forward a simple, feasible scheme for the preparation and subsequent detection of macroscopic quantum superposition (MQS) states. It is based on the two-photon model which obtains when a cascade of two atomic transitions is resonant with twice the field frequency. The initial conditions amount to a field in a mixed state characteristic of lasers or masers and an excited atom. The MQS is generated by a conditional measurement of the atomic excitation after an interaction time that determines the relative phase of the MQS components. Remarkably, the MQS is subsequently detected and its phase is inferred by measuring the excitation probability of a second, ``probe,'' atom, as a function of its interaction time. The realization of the scheme in the optical domain, using dielectric microspheres, is discussed.
A scheme for preparation of coherent superposition of Fock states of electromagnetic field is constructed. The superposition state is created inside the cavity via a strong interaction of a four-level atom with quantum field of the cavity and classic laser fields. We demonstrate the possibility to create desired arbitrary superposition of the cavity Fock states just by changing the relative delay of the fields. Then, as another application of our model, we study a means of creating entanglement of neutral four-level atoms using different sequences of interactions with the cavity and laser fields.