title: Entanglement of macroscopic test masses and the standard quantum limit in laser interferometry.
abstract: We show that the generation of entanglement of two heavily macroscopic mirrors is feasible with state of the art techniques of high-precision laser interferometry. The basis of such a demonstration would be a Michelson interferometer with suspended mirrors and simultaneous homodyne detections at both interferometer output ports. We present the connection between the generation of entanglement and the standard quantum limit (SQL) for a free mass. The SQL is a well-known reference limit in operating interferometers for gravitational-wave detection and provides a measure of when macroscopic entanglement can be observed in the presence of realistic decoherence processes.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik (Albert-Einstein-Institut), Institut für Gravitationsphysik, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Callinstr. 38, 30167 Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Helge
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Müller-Ebhardt
authors.forename: Henning
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rehbein
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schnabel
authors.forename: Karsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Danzmann
authors.forename: Yanbei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen