Kapitza-Dirac Blockade: A Universal Tool for the Deterministic Preparation of Non-Gaussian Oscillator States

Authors

Wayne Cheng-Wei Huang, Northwestern UniversityFollow
Herman Batelaan, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Markus Arndt, University of ViennaFollow

ORCID IDs

Wayne Cheng-Wei Huang https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1523-4267

Herman Batelaan https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3175-8095

Markus Arndt https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9487-4985

Date of this Version

Summer 6-23-2021

Citation

W. C. Huang, H. Batelaan, and Markus Arndt, Kapitza-Dirac Blockade: A Universal Tool for the Deterministic Preparation of Non-Gaussian Oscillator States, Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 253601 (2021).

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.253601

Comments

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

Abstract

Harmonic oscillators count among the most fundamental quantum systems with important applications in molecular physics, nanoparticle trapping, and quantum information processing. Their equidistant energy level spacing is often a desired feature, but at the same time a challenge if the goal is to deterministically populate specific eigenstates. Here, we show how interference in the transition amplitudes in a bichromatic laser field can suppress the sequential climbing of harmonic oscillator states (Kapitza-Dirac blockade) and achieve selective excitation of energy eigenstates, cat states, and other non-Gaussian states. This technique can transform the harmonic oscillator into a coherent two-level system or be used to build a large- momentum-transfer beam splitter for matter waves. To illustrate the universality of the concept, we discuss feasible experiments that cover many orders of magnitude in mass, from single electrons over large molecules to dielectric nanoparticles.