Special JFI Seminar Talk

Sponsored by
France-Chicago Center and College de France

Prof. Serge Haroche (bio.) College de France and Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris and JFI Distinguished Visitor for 2007

Exploring the Quantum Dynamics of Atoms and Photons in Cavities (II):
Schrodinger Cat States and Decoherence

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

1:30 pm, GCIS 123

Abstract: In this second seminar, I will show how atoms can be entangled with fields containing many photons, leading to the preparation of non-classical field states known as photonic "Schrödinger cats".  These states are very fragile. Their coupling to the environment transforms them very quickly into classical statistical mixtures. This phenomenon, known as "decoherence"   contributes to explain why large systems, made of many quanta, tend to behave in a classical way. I will describe experiments investigating the behaviour of photonic Schrödinger cats trapped in high Q cavities, which have allowed us to observe directly the decoherence process. I will conclude by discussing plans for future experiments involving non-classical fields trapped in two cavities, which are expected to exhibit "strange" non-local entanglement.

Host: Cheng Chin and Tom Witten

The University of Chicago

This poster is on the internet at http://ultracold.uchicago.edu/haroche/seminar2.html