The effects of higher-order Lamb–Dicke approximations (LDAs), on engineering motional quantum states of a single trapped cold ion, are discussed. By measuring the internally electronic states of a single trapped cold ion, which is driven by two classical laser beams tuning respectively to the first upper and lower sidebands, we show that the externally macroscopic vibrational states superposed by either even or odd number states are generated. Under the LDA (i.e., only the first order effect of LD parameter η is considered), these states just are the usual even and odd coherent states. For relative large values of η, we showed that the effects of higher-order LDAs, i.e., terms relating to ηk, k ≥ 2, are not negligible. They might significantly enhance certain nonclassical properties, e.g., squeezing and antibunching effects of the generated macroscopic quantum states.
Deterministic preparation of highly non-classical macroscopic quantum states
