Work

Accelerated state expansion of a nanoparticle in a dark inverted potential

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: While the wave packet of a massive particle grows linearly under free dynamics, it grows exponentially in an inverted harmonic potential, offering a pathway to rapidly increase quantum fluctuations to macroscopic dimensions. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate this principle by expanding the center-of-mass thermal state of a 125 n m silica nanoparticle to a position uncertainty of 43.4 n m within 260 µ s . This expansion, achieved using an inverted dark potential to minimize decoherence from photon recoil, represents a 952-fold increase, reaching a scale comparable to the nanoparticle's physical size. This work represents a key advancement toward preparing macroscopic quantum superpositions at unprecedented mass and length scales.

Source: Physical Review Research

DOI: 10.1103/r7t1-w311