  We investigate how superpositions of motional coherent states naturally arise
in the dynamics of a two-level trapped ion coupled to the quantized field
inside a cavity. We extend our considerations including a more realistic set up
where the cavity is not ideal and photons may leak through its mirrors. We
found that a detection of a photon outside the cavity would leave the ion in a
pure state. The statistics of the ionic state still keeps some interference
effects that might be observed in the weak coupling regime.
