Monroe, C.
, Meekhof, D.
, King, B.
and Wineland, D.
(1996),
A Schrödinger Cat" Superposition State of an Atom, Science, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=105030
(Accessed October 10, 2025)
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
A Schrödinger Cat" Superposition State of an Atom
Published
Author(s)
C Monroe, D M. Meekhof, ,
Abstract
A "Schrödinger cat"-like state of matter was generated at the single atom level. A trapped 9Be+ ion was laser-cooled to the zero-point energy and then prepared in a superposition of spatially separated coherent harmonic oscillator states. This state was created by application of a sequence of laser pulses, which entangles internal (electronic) and external (motional) states of the ion. The Schrödinger cat superposition was verified by detection of the quantum mechanical interference between the localized wave packets. This mesoscopic system may provide insight into the fuzzy boundary between the classical and quantum worlds by allowing controlled studies of quantum measurement and quantum decoherence.Citation
Science
Volume
272
Pub Type
Journals
Download Paper
Citation
Issues
If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact [email protected].
Created December 31, 1995, Updated October 12, 2021