MACROSCOPIC FIELD SUPERPOSITIONS FROM COLLECTIVE INTERACTIONS

We study the generation of both coherent superpositions and mixtures o f field states through the interaction of an initially coherent field state with a collection of two-level atoms. The proposed scheme to bui ld up a given superposition is based on effective dispersive interacti ons which arise from both the large detuning limit and the strong-fiel d limit. The coherent superposition is obtained by interacting with a classical field after the cluster leaves the cavity followed by a meas urement of the atomic population.