Experimental Geometric State Preparation on the Bloch Sphere Via Linear Mechanical Resonator

Abstract

The Bloch sphere representation, familiar from quantum two-level systems, can also describe classical linear systems whose dynamics are effectively confined to two modes. Here, we experimentally realize this framework in a linear two-mass, three-spring mechanical system by controlling superpositions of its symmetric and antisymmetric eigenmodes. The system is driven from both boundaries at a fixed frequency between the two resonances, so that the steady-state response remains within a two-mode manifold. By independently varying the relative amplitude and phase of the boundary excitations, we generate tunable modal superpositions. Scanning laser vibrometer measurements and frequency-domain analysis are used to extract the complex modal coefficients, which are then normalized and mapped onto Bloch sphere coordinates. This reconstruction reveals planar rotations of the state under phase sweeps and continuous steering between eigenstates under amplitude-ratio tuning. These results provide an experimental validation of Bloch sphere state reconstruction and steady-state geometric state preparation in a minimal linear mass-spring platform, establishing a simple classical testbed for exploring two-mode manifold dynamics.