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Quantum physics

Squeezed ions in two places at once

Nature volume 521, pages 295–296 (2015)Cite this article

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Experiments on a trapped calcium ion have again exposed the strange nature of quantum phenomena, and could pave the way for sensitive techniques to explore the boundary between the quantum and classical worlds. See Letter p.336

In Schrödinger's famous thought experiment, a cat is prepared in a quantum superposition of being both alive and dead by being trapped in a box with a flask of poison. As if that were not enough, the poor cat is now being squeezed too — all in the name of quantum measurement. In laboratory experiments, atoms have been prepared in superpositions of being in two places at once, playfully called Schrödinger's cat states1. On page 336 of this issue, Lo et al.2 demonstrate superposition states of a trapped ion in which its position is not only split between two locations, but also squeezed. Squeezing refers to the process of suppressing quantum fluctuations for a particular measurement, such as that of a particle's position.

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Figure 1: Squeezing an ion's positional uncertainty.

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  1. Tracy Northup is at the Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Innsbruck, Innsbruck 6020, Austria.,

    Tracy Northup

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  1. Tracy Northup
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Correspondence to Tracy Northup.

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Northup, T. Squeezed ions in two places at once. Nature 521, 295–296 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/521295a

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