We consider a physical process that leads to the generation of atomic Schrödinger cat states for a system of two level atoms. The effective interaction between atoms in a dispersive cavity leads to the superposition of atomic coherent states. We study in detail the quasidistributions for these states and demonstrate how the Schrödinger cat states can lead to interesting interferences over the surface of a sphere.

• Received 24 January 1997

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.56.2249