Abstract

In this paper we propose a similar measurement scheme to that of Cirac et al.,² which employs quantum state tomography¹ to determine the initial state of a vibrational mode of a single trapped ion in a harmonic potential. A pulsed standing wave passing through the trap couples the ground state to a metastable state. The ground state is also strongly coupled to another level by a resonant probe laser. The ion is laser cooled to the Lamb-Dicke limit and prepared in an arbitrary initial vibrational state. The initial electronic state is prepared in a superposition of the ground state and the metastable state. The ion then evolves freely for a time τ before the standing wave pulse is applied.

© 1996 Optical Society of America