VIBRATIONAL PAIR CAT STATES

We propose a scheme for generating mesoscopic superpositions of two di stinguishable pair coherent states of motion in a two-dimensional ion trap. In our scheme, the trapped ion is excited bichromatically by fiv e laser beams along different directions in the X-Y plane of the ion t rap. Four of these have the same frequency and can be derived from the same source, reducing the demands on the experimentalist. We show tha t if the initial vibrational state is given by a two-mode Fock state, as demonstrated in recent experiments, these highly correlated two-mod e ''Schrodinger cat'' states are realized when the system reaches its steady state, which is indicated by the extinction of the fluorescence emitted by the ion.