Size of quantum superpositions as measured with classical detectors (original) (raw)
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Measurement-based measure of the size of macroscopic quantum superpositions
Physical Review A, 2007
Recent experiments claiming formation of quantum superposition states in near macroscopic systems raise the question of how the sizes of general quantum superposition states in an interacting system are to be quantified. We propose here a measure of size for such superposition states that is based on what measurements can be performed to probe and distinguish the different branches of the state. The measure allows comparison of the effective size for superposition states in very different physical systems. It can be applied to a very general class of superposition states and reproduces known results for near-ideal cases. Comparison with a prior measure based on analysis of coherence between branches indicates that significantly smaller effective superposition sizes result from our measurement-based measure. Application to a system of interacting bosons in a double-well trapping potential shows that the effective superposition size is strongly dependent on the relative magnitude of the barrier height and interparticle interaction.
Macroscopic superpositions require tremendous measurement devices
Quantum, 2017
We consider fundamental limits on the detectable size of macroscopic quantum superpositions. We argue that a full quantum mechanical treatment of system plus measurement device is required, and that a (classical) reference frame for phase or direction needs to be established to certify the quantum state. When taking the size of such a classical reference frame into account, we show that to reliably distinguish a quantum superposition state from an incoherent mixture requires a measurement device that is quadratically bigger than the superposition state. Whereas for moderate system sizes such as generated in previous experiments this is not a stringent restriction, for macroscopic superpositions of the size of a cat the required effort quickly becomes intractable, requiring measurement devices of the size of the Earth. We illustrate our results using macroscopic superposition states of photons, spins, and position. Finally, we also show how this limitation can be circumvented by deal...
Detecting the degree of macroscopic quantumness using an overlap measurement
Journal of the Optical Society of America B, 2014
We investigate how to experimentally detect a recently proposed measure to quantify macroscopic quantum superpositions [Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 220401 (2011)], namely, "macroscopic quantumness" I. Schemes based on overlap measurements for harmonic oscillator states and for qubit states are extensively investigated. Effects of detection inefficiency and coarse-graining are analyzed in order to assess feasibility of the schemes.
Creation of macroscopic quantum superposition states by a measurement
EPL (Europhysics Letters), 2008
We propose a novel protocol for the creation of macroscopic quantum superposition (MQS) states based on a measurement of a non-monotonous function of a quantum collective variable. The main advantage of this protocol is that it does not require switching on and off nonlinear interactions in the system. We predict this protocol to allow the creation of multiatom MQS by measuring the number of atoms coherently outcoupled from a two-component (spinor) Bose-Einstein condensate.
Physical Review A, 2012
We discuss a device capable of filtering out two-mode states of light with mode populations differing by more than a certain threshold, while not revealing which mode is more populated. It would allow engineering of macroscopic quantum states of light in a way which is preserving specific superpositions. As a result, it would enhance optical phase estimation with these states as well as distinguishability of "macroscopic" qubits. We propose an optical scheme, which is a relatively simple, albeit non-ideal, operational implementation of such a filter. It uses tapping of the original polarization two-mode field, with a polarization neutral beam splitter of low reflectivity. Next, the reflected beams are suitably interfered on a polarizing beam splitter. It is oriented such that it selects unbiased polarization modes with respect to the original ones. The more an incoming twomode Fock state is unequally populated, the more the polarizing beam splitter output modes are equally populated. This effect is especially pronounced for highly populated states. Additionally, for such states we expect strong population correlations between the original fields and the tapped one. Thus, after a photon-number measurement of the polarizing beam splitter outputs, a feedforward loop can be used to let through a shutter the field, which was transmitted by the tapping beam splitter. This happens only if the counts at the outputs are roughly equal. In such a case, the transmitted field differs strongly in occupation number of the two modes, while information on which mode is more populated is non-existent (a necessary condition for preserving superpositions).
Decoherence bypass of macroscopic superpositions in quantum measurement
Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, 2008
We study a class of quantum measurement models. A microscopic object is entangled with a macroscopic pointer such that a distinct pointer position is tied to each eigenvalue of the measured object observable. Those different pointer positions mutually decohere under the influence of an environment. Overcoming limitations of previous approaches we (i) cope with initial correlations between pointer and environment by considering them initially in a metastable local thermal equilibrium, (ii) allow for object-pointer entanglement and environment-induced decoherence of distinct pointer readouts to proceed simultaneously, such that mixtures of macroscopically distinct object-pointer product states arise without intervening macroscopic superpositions, and (iii) go beyond the Markovian treatment of decoherence.
Can coarse measurements reveal macroscopic quantum effects?
It has recently been conjectured that detecting quantum effects such as superposition or entanglement for macroscopic systems always requires high measurement precision. Analyzing an apparent counter-example involving macroscopic coherent states and Kerr non-linearities, we find that while measurements with coarse outcomes can be sufficient, the phase control precision of the necessary non-linear operations has to increase with the size of the system. This suggests a refined conjecture that either the {\it outcome precision} or the {\it control precision} of the measurements has to increase with system size.
Large Quantum Superpositions and Interference of Massive Nanometer-Sized Objects
2011
We propose a method to prepare and verify spatial quantum superpositions of a nanometersized object separated by distances of the order of its size. This method provides unprecedented bounds for objective collapse models of the wave function by merging techniques and insights from cavity quantum optomechanics and matter wave interferometry. An analysis and simulation of the experiment is performed taking into account standard sources of decoherence. We provide an operational parameter regime using present day and planned technology.
Measuring the size of a quantum superposition of many-body states
Physical Review A, 2008
We propose a measure for the "size" of a Schrödinger cat state, i.e. a quantum superposition of two many-body states with (supposedly) macroscopically distinct properties, by counting how many single-particle operations are needed to map one state onto the other. This definition gives sensible results for simple, analytically tractable cases and is consistent with a previous definition restricted to Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger-like states. We apply our measure to the experimentally relevant, nontrivial example of a superconducting three-junction flux qubit put into a superposition of leftand right-circulating supercurrent states and find this Schrödinger cat to be surprisingly small.
Physical Review A, 2013
The Schrödinger cat state plays a crucial role in quantum theory, and has important fundamental as well as technological implications, ranging from quantum measurement theory to quantum computers. The power of the potential implications of the cat state lies in the quantum coherence, as measured by the degree of entanglement, between its microscopic and macroscopic sectors. We show that in contrast to other cat states, it is possible to choose the states of the macroscopic sector in a way that the resulting cat state, which we term as the W-cat state, has quantum coherence that is resistant to the twin effects of environmental noise-local decoherence on all the particles and loss of a finite fraction of its particles. The states of the macroscopic sector of the W-cat state are macroscopically distinct in terms of their violation of Bell inequality.