arXiv:quant-ph/9702038
Quantum harmonic oscillator state synthesis and analysis
Wayne M. Itano, Christopher R. Monroe, D. M. Meekhof, Dietrich G. Leibfried, B. E. King, Wineland, D. J.
Abstract
Experiments are described in which a single, harmonically bound, beryllium ion in a Paul trap is put into Fock, thermal, coherent, squeezed, and Schroedinger cat states. Experimental determinations of the density matrix and the Wigner function are described. A simple calculation of the decoherence of a superposition of coherent states due to an external electric field is given.