title: Dissipative Optomechanical Preparation of Macroscopic Quantum Superposition States.
abstract: The transition from quantum to classical physics remains an intensely debated question even though it has been investigated for more than a century. Further clarifications could be obtained by preparing macroscopic objects in spatial quantum superpositions and proposals for generating such states for nanomechanical devices either in a transient or a probabilistic fashion have been put forward. Here, we introduce a method to deterministically obtain spatial superpositions of arbitrary lifetime via dissipative state preparation. In our approach, we engineer a double-well potential for the motion of the mechanical element and drive it towards the ground state, which shows the desired spatial superposition, via optomechanical sideband cooling. We propose a specific implementation based on a superconducting circuit coupled to the mechanical motion of a lithium-decorated monolayer graphene sheet, introduce a method to verify the mechanical state by coupling it to a superconducting qubit, and discuss its prospects for testing collapse models for the quantum to classical transition.
authors.affiliation: Physik Department, Technische Universität München, James-Franck-Strasse 1, 85748 Garching, Germany.|Institut für Theoretische Physik, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, Universität Ulm, 89069 Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abdi
authors.affiliation: Physik Department, Technische Universität München, James-Franck-Strasse 1, 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Degenfeld-Schonburg
authors.affiliation: Institute of Photonics and Quantum Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sameti
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Strasse 1, 85748 Garching, Germany.|Institute for Theoretical Physics, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Staudtstrasse 7, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Navarrete-Benlloch
authors.affiliation: Institute of Photonics and Quantum Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Hartmann