发表机构
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics; Jožef Stefan Institute（卢布尔雅那大学数学与物理学院; 约热夫·斯特凡研究所）
机构由 AI 辅助整理，请以论文原文为准。AI 中文总结
本文证明空间局域退相干可被用作干涉工具，通过光学模拟物质波干涉验证了其制备宏观叠加态的能力，确立了退相干作为量子态工程资源的新范式。
AI 中文摘要
退相干通常被视为一种有害过程，它抑制量子相干性并限制量子技术的性能。与这一观点相反，我们表明空间局域退相干反而可以被用作一种干涉测量工具。除了其概念意义外，局域退相干为制备任意宏观空间叠加态以测试大质量粒子的量子物理提供了一种新方法。我们利用光学与物质波之间通过各自传播函数等价性建立的对应关系，进行了原理验证。通过向光学对应系统施加随机相位场来模拟退相干，我们的实验确认了预期的干涉现象。这些结果确立了局域退相干作为量子态工程的一种资源。
英文摘要
Decoherence is conventionally regarded as a detrimental process that suppresses quantum coherence and limits the performance of quantum technologies. Contrary to this view, we show that spatially localized decoherence can instead be exploited as an interferometric tool. Beyond its conceptual implications, localized decoherence provides a novel approach to prepare arbitrary macroscopic spatial superpositions for testing quantum physics with massive particles. We demonstrate the proof of principle by making use of the correspondence between optics and matter-waves through the equivalence of the respective propagation functions. By employing stochastic phase fields to the optical counterpart to model the decoherence, our experiments confirm the expected interference. The results establish localized decoherence as a resource for quantum state engineering.
Comments18 pages, including 9 pages appendix and a total of 12 figures; v2: added a data availability section, and replaced Fig. 1 with a lower resolution version to achieve a smaller file size; v3: added an acknowledgement of how AI was used as an aid
