LINEWIDTH PREVENTS MACROSCOPIC QUANTUM SUPERPOSITION GENERATION BY SINGLE-ATOM DISPERSION

A method for generating macroscopically distinguishable superposition states via single atom dispersion was proposed by Savage et al. In tha t model, the atomic linewidth was not considered. However, including t he atomic linewidth, we get two contradictory conditions for the gener ation of distinguishable superposition states. This shows that the ato mic linewidth prevents the formation of macroscopically distinguishabl e superposition states by the proposed method.