Non-Classical States of Motion and Quantum Collapse and Revival in an Ion Trap

A novel scheme for the preparation of non-classical states of motion in a three-dimensional harmonic ion trap is proposed. The technique is based on adiabatic passage along dressed energy levels of the strongly coupled ion + trap system by varying the laser frequency. For an observation of these non-classical states we propose to measure quantum collapse and revival in the population inversion of a single trapped ion.