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arXiv:quant-ph/0101035

Formation and Dynamics of a Schrödinger-Cat State in Continuous Quantum Measurement

G. P. Berman, F. Borgonovi, George Chapline, S. A. Gurvitz, P. C. Hammel, Denis V. Pelekhov, Andreas Suter, V. I. Tsifrinovich

Published Jan 7, 2001• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We consider the process of a single-spin measurement using magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM) as an example of a truly continuous measurement in quantum mechanics. This technique is also important for different applications, including a measurement of a qubit state in quantum computation. The measurement takes place through the interaction of a single spin with a quasi-classical cantilever, modeled by a quantum oscillator in a coherent state in a quasi-classical region of parameters. The entire system is treated rigorously within the framework of the Schrödinger equation, without any artificial assumptions. Computer simulations of the spin-cantilever dynamics, where the spin is continuously rotated by means of cyclic adiabatic inversion, show that the cantilever evolves into a Schrödinger-cat state: the probability distribution for the cantilever position develops two asymmetric peaks that quasi-periodically appear and vanish. For a many-spin system our equations reduce to the classical equations of motion, and we accurately describe conventional MRFM experiments involving cyclic adiabatic inversion of the spin system. We surmise that the interaction of the cantilever with the environment would lead to a collapse of the wave function; however, we show that in such a case the spin does not jump into a spin eigenstate.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/0101035

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We consider the process of a single-spin measurement using magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM) with a cyclic adiabatic inversion (CAI). This technique is also important for different applications, including a measurement of a qubit state in quantum computation. The measurement takes place through the interaction of a single spin with a cantilever modelled by a quantum oscillator in a coherent state in a quasi-classical range of parameters. The entire system is treated rigorously within the framework of the Schrödinger equation. For a many-spin system our equations accurately describe conventional MRFM experiments involving CAI of the spin system. Our computer simulations of the quantum spin–cantilever dynamics show that the probability distribution for the cantilever position develops two asymmetric peaks with the total relative probabilities mainly dependent on the initial angle between the directions of the average spin and the effective magnetic field, in the rotating frame. We show that each of the peaks is correlated with the direction of the average spin (being along or opposite to the direction of the effective magnetic field). This generates two possible outcomes of a single-spin measurement, similar to the Stern–Gerlach effect. We demonstrate that the generation of the second peak can be significantly suppressed by turning on adiabatically the amplitude of the rf magnetic field. We also show that MRFM CAI can be used both for detecting a signal from a single spin, and for measuring the single-spin state by measuring the phase of the cantilever driving oscillations.
We review the quantum theory of a single-spin magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM). We concentrate on the novel technique called oscillating cantilever-driven adiabatic reversals (OSCARs), which has been used for a single-spin detection. First we describe the quantum dynamics of the cantilever-spin system using simple estimates in the spirit of the mean field approximation. Then we present the results of our computer simulations of the Schro/spl uml/dinger equation for the wave function of the cantilever-spin system and of the master equation for the density matrix of the system. We demonstrate that the cantilever behaves like a quasi-classical measurement device which detects the spin projection along the effective magnetic field. We show that the OSCAR technique provides continuous monitoring of the single spin, which could be used to detect the mysterious quantum collapses of the wave function of the cantilever-spin system.
We simulated the quantum dynamics for magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM) in the oscillating cantilever-driven adiabatic reversals (OSCAR) technique. We estimated the frequency shift of the cantilever vibrations and demonstrated that this shift causes the formation of a Schr\"odinger cat state which has some similarities and differences from the conventional MRFM technique which uses cyclic adiabatic reversals of spins. The interaction of the cantilever with the environment is shown to quickly destroy the coherence between the two possible cantilever trajectories. We have shown that using partial adiabatic reversals, one can produce a significant increase in the OSCAR signal.
We study a model of a magnetic resonance force microscope (MRFM) based on the cyclic adiabatic inversion technique as a high-resolution tool to detect single electron spins. We investigate the quantum dynamics of spin and cantilever in the presence of coupling to an environment. To obtain the reduced dynamics of the combined system of spin and cantilever, we use the Feynman-Vernon influence functional and get results valid at any temperature as well as at arbitrary system-bath coupling strength. We propose that the MRFM can be used as a quantum measurement device, i.e., not only to detect the modulus of the spin but also its direction.
We consider a simple version of a cyclic adiabatic inversion (CAI) technique in magnetic-resonance force microscopy (MRFM). We study the problem: What component of the spin is measured in the CAI MRFM? We show that the nondestructive detection of the cantilever vibrations provides a measurement of the spin component along the effective magnetic field. This result is based on numerical simulations of the Hamiltonian dynamics (the Schr\"odinger equation) and the numerical solution of the master equation.