Creating atom-nanoparticle quantum superpositions

Abstract

A nanoscale object evidenced in a non-classical state of its centre of mass will hugely extend the boundaries of quantum mechanics. To obtain a practical scheme for the same, we exploit a hitherto unexplored coupled system: an atom and a nanoparticle coupled by an optical field. We show how to control the center-of-mass of a large $\sim 500$nm nanoparticle using the internal state of the atom so as to create, as well as detect, nonclassical motional states of the nanoparticle. Specifically, we consider a setup based on a silica nanoparticle coupled to a Cesium atom and discuss a protocol for preparing and verifying a Schrödinger-cat state of the nanoparticle that does no require cooling to the motional ground state. We show that the existence of the superposition can be revealed using the Earth's gravitational field using a method that is insensitive to the most common sources of decoherence and works for any initial state of the nanoparticle.

12 pages, 4 figures

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• Dark Matter Searches with Levitated Sensors
• Measurement of single nanoparticle anisotropy by laser induced optical alignment and Rayleigh scattering for determining particle morphology
• Low-energy scattering of ultracold atoms by a dielectric nanosphere
• Roto-translational optomechanics
• A hybrid quantum system formed by trapping atoms in the near-field of a levitated nanosphere
• Massive quantum superpositions using magneto-mechanics
• Nanoparticle acts as a light source to make atom interferometers