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Updated: Jul 29, 2026

Quantum State Engineering of Light with Continuous-wave Optical Parametric Oscillators
Published on: May 30, 2014
Creation and measurement of a coherent superposition of quantum states
Frank Vewinger1, Manfred Heinz, Ruth Garcia Fernandez
1Fachbereich Physik der Universität, Erwin-Schrödinger-Strasse, 67653 Kaiserslautern, Germany. vewinger@physik.uni-kl.de
Abstract:
We demonstrate experimental techniques for creating and measuring a coherent superposition of two degenerate atomic states with equal amplitudes in metastable neon. Starting from state (3)P(0), we create adiabatically a coherent superposition of the magnetic sublevels M=+/-1 of the state (3)P(2) using a tripod stimulated Raman adiabatic passage scheme. The measurement is based on the coupling of the levels (3)P(2)<-->(3)P(1) by a linearly polarized laser, followed by the detection of the population in the (3)P(2)(M=+/-2) states as a function of the polarization angle of that laser.
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