Atomic nonclassicality quasiprobabilities
T. Kiesel, W. Vogel, Stephen L. Christensen, J.-B. Béguin, J. Appel, Eugene Simon Polzik · Physical Review A · 2012
Although nonclassical quantum states are important both conceptually and as a resource for quantum technology, it is often difficult to test whether a given quantum system displays nonclassicality. A simple method to certify nonclassicality is introduced, based on easily accessible collective atomic quadrature measurements, without the need of full state tomography. The statistics is analyzed beyond the ground-state noise level by direct sampling of a regularized atomic quadrature quasiprobability. Nonclassicality of a squeezed ensemble of $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{5}$ cesium atoms is demonstrated, with a significance of up to 23 standard deviations.