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Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference

Experimental Determination Of The Motional Wigner Function Of A Helium Atom

Tilman Pfau, Christian Kurtsiefer, J. Mlynek

Published Jan 1, 1997• 1 citation
OpenAlex

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We investigate the accuracy of an experimental reconstruction of the Wigner function of the transverse motion in an atom beam using numerical wave packet simulations. For the example of a superposition of two Gaussians (the outcome of a double slit, for example) we study in detail the influence of experimental restraints on the quality of the reconstruction. For the potential candidate, metastable helium, we demonstrate that an accurate reconstruction of the Wigner function, especially of its negative parts, is well within experimental reach.
We reconstruct the density matrices and Wigner functions for various quantum states of motion of a harmonically bound 9Be+{}^{9}{\mathrm{Be}}^{+}9Be+ ion. We apply coherent displacements of different amplitudes and phases to the input state and measure the number state populations. Using novel reconstruction schemes we independently determine both the density matrix in the number state basis and the Wigner function. These reconstructions are sensitive indicators of decoherence in the system.