Cat in a cold niobium box

Pierre Meystre; John J. Slosser; Martin Wilkens

doi:10.1016/0030-4018(90)90073-3

Cat in a cold niobium box

Pierre Meystre
, John J. Slosser
, Martin Wilkens

Physics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

29 Scopus citations

Abstract

At very low temperatures, steady-state macroscopic superpositions can be generated in a micromaser pumped by a stream of polarized two-level atoms. We show that the onset of these superpositions can be interpreted in terms of a first-order phase transition. While conventional bistable systems involved an incoherent mixture of two state localized at the two minima of an effective potential, the present situation is characterized by a coherent superposition of two such states.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	300-304
Number of pages	5
Journal	Optics Communications
Volume	79
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/0030-4018(90)90073-3
State	Published - Nov 1 1990

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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10.1016/0030-4018(90)90073-3

Cite this

@article{5b95ab785fd647d3a360eae972123908,

title = "Cat in a cold niobium box",

abstract = "At very low temperatures, steady-state macroscopic superpositions can be generated in a micromaser pumped by a stream of polarized two-level atoms. We show that the onset of these superpositions can be interpreted in terms of a first-order phase transition. While conventional bistable systems involved an incoherent mixture of two state localized at the two minima of an effective potential, the present situation is characterized by a coherent superposition of two such states.",

author = "Pierre Meystre and Slosser, \{John J.\} and Martin Wilkens",

note = "Funding Information: This research is supported by the U.S. Office of Naval Research contract N00014-88-K-0294 and by the National Science Foundation grant PHY-8902548. A computer hardware donation by ATT is gratefully acknowledged. We have benefited from discussions with S.W. Koch and A. Schenzle.",

year = "1990",

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doi = "10.1016/0030-4018(90)90073-3",

language = "English (US)",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Cat in a cold niobium box

AU - Meystre, Pierre

AU - Slosser, John J.

AU - Wilkens, Martin

N1 - Funding Information: This research is supported by the U.S. Office of Naval Research contract N00014-88-K-0294 and by the National Science Foundation grant PHY-8902548. A computer hardware donation by ATT is gratefully acknowledged. We have benefited from discussions with S.W. Koch and A. Schenzle.

PY - 1990/11/1

Y1 - 1990/11/1

N2 - At very low temperatures, steady-state macroscopic superpositions can be generated in a micromaser pumped by a stream of polarized two-level atoms. We show that the onset of these superpositions can be interpreted in terms of a first-order phase transition. While conventional bistable systems involved an incoherent mixture of two state localized at the two minima of an effective potential, the present situation is characterized by a coherent superposition of two such states.

AB - At very low temperatures, steady-state macroscopic superpositions can be generated in a micromaser pumped by a stream of polarized two-level atoms. We show that the onset of these superpositions can be interpreted in terms of a first-order phase transition. While conventional bistable systems involved an incoherent mixture of two state localized at the two minima of an effective potential, the present situation is characterized by a coherent superposition of two such states.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/0025519754

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/0025519754#tab=citedBy

U2 - 10.1016/0030-4018(90)90073-3

DO - 10.1016/0030-4018(90)90073-3

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:0025519754

SN - 0030-4018

VL - 79

SP - 300

EP - 304

JO - Optics Communications

JF - Optics Communications

IS - 5

ER -

Cat in a cold niobium box

Abstract

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