Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 2, 2025

Quantum State Engineering of Light with Continuous-wave Optical Parametric Oscillators
Published on: May 30, 2014
Schrödinger cat states of a 16-microgram mechanical oscillator
Marius Bild1,2, Matteo Fadel1,2, Yu Yang1,2
1Department of Physics, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
Abstract:
According to quantum mechanics, a physical system can be in any linear superposition of its possible states. Although the validity of this principle 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. Here we demonstrate the preparation of a mechanical resonator in Schrödinger cat states of motion, where the ∼1017 constituent atoms are in a superposition of two opposite-phase oscillations. We control the size and phase of the superpositions and investigate their decoherence dynamics. Our results offer the possibility of exploring the boundary between the quantum and classical worlds and may find applications in continuous-variable quantum information processing and metrology with mechanical resonators.
Related Concept Videos
The Quantum-Mechanical Model of an Atom
Oscillations In An LC Circuit
Electron Orbital Model
The first shell is closest to the nucleus, and it has only one subshell with a single spherical orbital called the...
The Bohr Model
Forced Oscillations
Damped Oscillations
Although friction and other non-conservative...

