A new preprint from our lab on the arxiv: Macroscopic Quantum Interference of the Center-of-Mass Motion of Levitated Superconducting Microparticles enabled by Magnetic Higher-Order Traps

A long title – but a short message: In this collaborative theory work we outline how one can observe a non-Gaussian motional state of a magnetically levitated superconducting microparticle. We show a clever way of how magnetic fields can be used to generate desired nonlinear potentials, including a double-well or a Duffing potential. The motional state of the superconducting microparticle evolves dynamically in such a potential for a short amount of time. We can show theoretically that non-Gaussian states of the particle’s center-of-mass motion can be generated in such a way and that quantum features of these states can also be verified.

Our work unites desirable features of a future experiment to generate non-classical states of the motion of microscopic objects: (i) long coherence time due to the use of superconducting magnetic levitation, (ii) dynamic state evolution in nonharmonic potentials that realize a nonlinearity on the length scale of hundred times the zero-point motion of the particle, which is about 100 picometer, and (iii) stationary trapping of the same microparticle allowing for repeated experiments to acquire sufficient statistics.

We know now in principle that it may work – the experiment will still be hard to perform.

Thanks for the great collaboration with the groups of Carles Navau, Sofia Qvarfort and Anja Metelmann, and the major drivers of this work: Fabian Resare, Jaume Cunill-Subiranas, and Suocheng Zhao.