Entanglement and decoherence of a micromechanical resonator via coupling to a Cooper-pair box

Abstract

An experimentally implementable scheme to create and detect superpositions of macroscopically distinct quantum states in a micromechanical resonator is presented. The key advantage of the scheme is the demonstrated coherent control of the Cooper box quantum charge state, together with the strong (controllable) coupling which can be achieved between the Cooper box state and the motional degree of freedom of a micron-sized mechanical oscillator.