Manipulation of Motional Quantum States of Neutral Atoms

Abstract

Cold Cs atoms are cooled into the ground state ( $n\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}0$) of a far detuned 1D optical lattice. From this state, we prepare and detect several quantum states of motion. First, we produce squeezed states of $n\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}0$ (and $n\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}1$) and record the time evolution of the velocity distribution of these states. A velocity distribution compressed by a factor of 4 compared to that of the ground state is obtained. Second, we prepare a linear superposition of $n\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}0$ and $n\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}1$ and observe its time evolution.