title: Proposal for the creation and optical detection of spin cat states in Bose-Einstein condensates.
abstract: We propose a method to create "spin cat states," i.e., macroscopic superpositions of coherent spin states, in Bose-Einstein condensates using the Kerr nonlinearity due to atomic collisions. Based on a detailed study of atom loss, we conclude that cat sizes of hundreds of atoms should be realistic. The existence of the spin cat states can be demonstrated by optical readout. Our analysis also includes the effects of higher-order nonlinearities, atom number fluctuations, and limited readout efficiency.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Quantum Science and Technology and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary, Calgary T2N 1N4, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Hon Wai
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.affiliation: Quantum Information Processing Group, Raytheon BBN Technologies, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Zachary
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Dutton
authors.affiliation: Institute for Quantum Science and Technology and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary, Calgary T2N 1N4, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Tian
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute for Quantum Science and Technology and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary, Calgary T2N 1N4, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Simon