From interferometers using squeezed states of light to the generation of microscopic Schrödinger cat states

Date

Jan 7, 2025

Time

1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Speaker

Prof. Dr. Roman Schnabel

Affiliation

Institut für Quantenphysik (IQP) & Zentrum für Optische Quantentechnologien (ZOQ) Universität Hamburg

Language

en

Main Topic

Elektro- u. Informationstechnik

Host

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Czarske

Description

In this talk, four types of experiments are presented in which continuous wave laser interferometers were combined with squeezing of the quantum uncertainty of light. First, a brief overview of the success story of squeezed light in gravitational wave detectors will be given. Our recent experiment improved the detection of the vibrational frequencies of a surface by suppressing the photon noise by 10 dB, even though the surface is highly absorbing. In another experiment, we measured the ensemble trajectory of the complex amplitude of an optical signal much more accurately than the Heisenberg uncertainty principle seems to allow. Finally, I present an experiment in which an ensemble of a squeezed vacuum state of light was converted into a superposition of two coherent states with a phase difference of 180° using a superconducting nanowire single photon detector. The latter state is usually understood as a microscopic Schrödinger cat state.

Links

Last modified: Jan 3, 2025, 3:14:40 PM