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HL: Fachverband Halbleiterphysik
HL 3: Focus Session: Progress in Hybrid Phononic Quantum Technologies I
HL 3.1: Invited Talk
Monday, March 27, 2023, 09:30–10:00, POT 151
Schrödinger cat states of a 16-microgram mechanical oscillator — •Yiwen Chu1,2, Marius Bild1,2, Matteo Fadel1,2, Yu Yang1,2, Uwe von Lüpke1,2, Phillip Martin1,2, and Alessandro Bruno1,2 — 1Department of Physics, ETH Zürich — 2Quantum Center, ETH Zürich
While the principle of superposition in quantum physics is routinely validated for microscopic systems, it is still unclear why we do not observe macroscopic objects to be in superpositions of states that can be distinguished by some classical property. I will present our experiments that harness the resonant Jaynes-Cummings interaction between a high overtone resonator mode of a bulk acoustic wave resonator and a superconducting qubit to demonstrate the preparation of Schrödinger cat states of motion. In such a state, the constituent atoms oscillate in a superposition of two opposite phases with an effective oscillating mass of 16 micrograms. Making use of the circuit quantum acoustodynamics toolbox we have developed, we furthermore show control over amplitudes and phases of the created Schrödinger cat states, and investigate their decoherence dynamics by observing the disappearance of Wigner negativities. Our results can find applications in continuous variable quantum information processing and in fundamental investigations of quantum mechanics in massive systems.