Towards a spatial cat state of a massive pendulum

Abstract

We propose an experiment for constructing a spatial cat state of a suspended mirror with an order of $\mathcal{O}$(mg). The mirror is set at the center of two mirrors, creating two optical cavities and optical springs. The induced potential exhibits a double-well shape, and its deformation resembles a second-order phase transition as a function of laser power. We estimate an adiabatic condition for the ground state wave function to metamorphose from a localized state at the origin to a spatial cat state within the double-well potential, within a coherence time determined by mechanical and environmental noises. Our estimation suggests that such a construction is possible if we can provide an ultra-high finesse optical cavity with $F=2.5\times 10^5$ and a length of $0.3$ cm, along with a shot-noise-limited laser at $7.9$ nW. The necessary mechanical coherence time is approximately one second.

5 pages, 4 figures