Quantum harmonic oscillator state synthesis by reservoir engineering

TLDR

Generating quantum states robustly in the presence of decoherence remains a primary challenge for scaling quantum mechanics. The study uses reservoir engineering on a single trapped ion’s mechanical motion to generate squeezed, coherent, and displaced‑squeezed steady states despite noise. The authors engineer spin–oscillator couplings to produce and verify steady squeezed states via high‑contrast two‑state Rabi oscillations in an engineered Fock basis. This method promises to enable entanglement studies, quantum computation, and open‑system simulations across diverse physical platforms.

Abstract

The robust generation of quantum states in the presence of decoherence is a primary challenge for explorations of quantum mechanics at larger scales. Using the mechanical motion of a single trapped ion, we utilize reservoir engineering to generate squeezed, coherent and displaced-squeezed states as steady states in the presence of noise. We verify the created state by generating two-state correlated spin-motion Rabi oscillations resulting in high contrast measurements. For both cooling and measurement, we use spin-oscillator couplings that provide transitions between oscillator states in an engineered Fock state basis. Our approach should facilitate studies of entanglement, quantum computation, and open-system quantum simulations in a wide range of physical systems.