Mainz 1997 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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PV: Plenarvorträge

PV I

PV I: Plenarvortrag

Montag, 3. März 1997, 09:45–10:30, RW 1

Observing the decoherence of “Schrödinger cat" states of radiation and exploring the quantum/classical boundary with single atoms in cavities — •Serge Haroche — Departement de Physique de l’Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris

By coupling Rydberg atoms one by one with a few photon confined in a high Q microwave cavity, we have prepared Schrödinger cat-like states of radiation, which are coherent superpositions of fields with classically distinguishable phases. The progressive quantum decoherence of these states has been observed by performing two atom correlation measurements. Various kind of quantum entanglement between successive atoms crossing the cavity have also been investigated. In these experiments, nature exhibits at the microscopic and mesoscopic scales a quantum logic quite at variance with the classical logic of the macroscopic world. By varying continuously - from microscopic to macroscopic - the mean number of photons contained in these exotic field states, we are exploring the elusive quantum/classical boundary.