  Ultracold atoms are trapped circumferentially on a ring that is pierced at
its center by a flux tube arising from a light-induced gauge potential due to
applied Laguerre-Gaussian fields. We show that by using optical coherent state
superpositions to produce light-induced gauge potentials, we can create a
situation in which the trapped atoms are simultaneously exposed to two distinct
flux tubes, thereby creating superpositions in atomic quantum rings. We
consider the examples of both a ring geometry and harmonic trapping, and in
both cases the ground state of the quantum system is shown to be a
superposition of counter-rotating states of the atom trapped on the two
distinct flux tubes.
