Single-Atom Gating of Quantum State Superpositions
| dc.creator | Moon, Christopher R. | |
| dc.creator | Lutz, Christopher P. | |
| dc.creator | Manoharan, Hari C. | |
| dc.date | 2009-04-19 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-07-07T13:05:50Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-07-07T13:05:50Z | |
| dc.description | The ultimate miniaturization of electronic devices will likely require local and coherent control of single electronic wavefunctions. Wavefunctions exist within both physical real space and an abstract state space with a simple geometric interpretation: this state space--or Hilbert space--is spanned by mutually orthogonal state vectors corresponding to the quantized degrees of freedom of the real-space system. Measurement of superpositions is akin to accessing the direction of a vector in Hilbert space, determining an angle of rotation equivalent to quantum phase. Here we show that an individual atom inside a designed quantum corral can control this angle, producing arbitrary coherent superpositions of spatial quantum states. Using scanning tunnelling microscopy and nanostructures assembled atom-by-atom we demonstrate how single spins and quantum mirages can be harnessed to image the superposition of two electronic states. We also present a straightforward method to determine the atom path enacting phase rotations between any desired state vectors. A single atom thus becomes a real space handle for an abstract Hilbert space, providing a simple technique for coherent quantum state manipulation at the spatial limit of condensed matter. | |
| dc.description | Published online 6 April 2008 in Nature Physics; 17 page manuscript (including 4 figures) + 3 page supplement (including 2 figures); supplementary movies available at http://mota.stanford.edu | |
| dc.identifier | https://arxiv.org/abs/0904.2884 | |
| dc.identifier | http://arxiv.org/abs/0904.2884 | |
| dc.identifier | Nature Physics 4, 454-458 (2008) | |
| dc.identifier | doi:10.1038/nphys930 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/227618 | |
| dc.subject | Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics | |
| dc.subject | Materials Science | |
| dc.title | Single-Atom Gating of Quantum State Superpositions | |
| dc.type | text |