Atom Interferometry with up to 24-Photon-Momentum-Transfer Beam Splitters
Atomic Physics
2008-05-15 v2 Optics
Abstract
We present up to 24-photon Bragg diffraction as a beam splitter in light-pulse atom interferometers to achieve the largest splitting in momentum space so far. Relative to the 2-photon processes used in the most sensitive present interferometers, these large momentum transfer beam splitters increase the phase shift 12-fold for Mach-Zehnder (MZ-) and 144-fold for Ramsey-Borde (RB-) geometries. We achieve a high visibility of the interference fringes (up to 52% for MZ or 36% for RB) and long pulse separation times that are possible only in atomic fountain setups. As the atom's internal state is not changed, important systematic effects can cancel.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0712.1990,
title = {Atom Interferometry with up to 24-Photon-Momentum-Transfer Beam Splitters},
author = {Holger Mueller and Sheng-wey Chiow and Quan Long and Sven Herrmann and Steven Chu},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0712.1990},
year = {2008}
}
Comments
New introduction. 4 pages, 4 figures