Strong laser fields and their power to generate controllable high-photon-number coherent-state superpositions

Abstract

In an effort to better bridge quantum optics and strong-field physics, the authors demonstrate the ability of intense laser-atom interactions to generate coherent-state superpositions and tune their quantum properties. They show that these superpositions can transition from optical ``cat'' states to ``kitten'' states with a change in atomic density, and report the highest-photon-number optical cat state to date.