# Trapped-ion oscillator prepares Schrödinger cat manifolds of two to five components

- Published: 2026-11-13 05:57 UTC
- Section: Digital & Computing › Quantum technology
- Tags: single trapped ion, harmonic oscillator, Schrödinger cat manifolds, nonlinear reservoir engineering, strongly nonlinear regime, atom-light interaction, bosonic error correction, quantum sensing
- URL: https://realtech.media/news/rt-18e614faf680d89b62f7017c_trapped_ion_oscillator/

**A single trapped-ion oscillator in the strongly nonlinear regime produced localized cat-state manifolds and allowed measurements on them, the authors report.**

![Trapped-ion oscillator prepares Schrödinger cat manifolds of two to five components](https://realtech.media/media/2026/11/8c7b1c6c827ca7e2.jpg)
*National Institute of Standards and Technology, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain*

A study in Science Advances describes control of a quantum harmonic oscillator formed by a single trapped ion. The ion was operated in the strongly nonlinear regime of the atom-light interaction, where, as the authors note, designing control protocols is often difficult [1].

Using a new form of nonlinear reservoir engineering, the team generated localized Schrödinger's cat manifolds with two, three, four and five components [1]. The authors then selected Hamiltonians that allow measurements to be made on these state manifolds [1].

According to the authors, the work demonstrates experimental use of high-order nonlinear processes to control nonclassical states of the oscillator. They say this gives a toolbox that can be applied to bosonic quantum error correction, computation and sensing.

## Sources

1. [Science Advances](https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aee5380)

---

Source: RealTech, realtech.media — https://realtech.media/news/rt-18e614faf680d89b62f7017c_trapped_ion_oscillator/