Experimental demonstration of a technique to generate arbitrary quantum superposition states of a harmonically bound spin-1/2 particle

Phys Rev Lett. 2003 Jan 24;90(3):037902. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.037902. Epub 2003 Jan 23.

Abstract

Using a single, harmonically trapped 9Be(+) ion, we experimentally demonstrate a technique for generation of arbitrary states of a two-level particle confined by a harmonic potential. Rather than engineering a single Hamiltonian that evolves the system to a desired final state, we implement a technique that applies a sequence of simple operations to synthesize the state.