Wan, C;
Scala, M;
Morley, GW;
Rahman, AATM;
Ulbricht, H;
Bateman, J;
Barker, PF;
... Kim, MS; + view all
(2016)
Free Nano-Object Ramsey Interferometry for Large Quantum Superpositions.
Physical Review Letters
, 117
(14)
10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.143003.
Preview |
Text
PhysRevLett.117.143003.pdf - Published Version Download (533kB) | Preview |
Abstract
We propose an interferometric scheme based on an untrapped nano-object subjected to gravity. The motion of the center of mass (c.m.) of the free object is coupled to its internal spin system magnetically, and a free flight scheme is developed based on coherent spin control. The wave packet of the test object, under a spin-dependent force, may then be delocalized to a macroscopic scale. A gravity induced dynamical phase (accrued solely on the spin state, and measured through a Ramsey scheme) is used to reveal the above spatially delocalized superposition of the spin-nano-object composite system that arises during our scheme. We find a remarkable immunity to the motional noise in the c.m. (initially in a thermal state with moderate cooling), and also a dynamical decoupling nature of the scheme itself. Together they secure a high visibility of the resulting Ramsey fringes. The mass independence of our scheme makes it viable for a nano-object selected from an ensemble with a high mass variability. Given these advantages, a quantum superposition with a 100 nm spatial separation for a massive object of 109 amu is achievable experimentally, providing a route to test postulated modifications of quantum theory such as continuous spontaneous localization.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Free Nano-Object Ramsey Interferometry for Large Quantum Superpositions |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.143003 |
| Publisher version: | http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.143003 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Physics and Astronomy |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1530506 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
