Exact Semiclassical Phase Shifts for Relativistic Atom Interferometers in Flat Spacetime
Abstract
Atom interferometry is a sensitive tool for measuring relativistic effects, but there are no known non-trivial exact solutions for relativistic atom interferometer phase shifts. Here we derive relativistically exact expressions within the usual semiclassical approximation for a wide range of experimentally interesting atom interferometer pulse sequences in flat spacetime, including Mach-Zehnder, resonant, and large momentum transfer interferometer geometries. As an example, the leading order phase shift for a Mach-Zehnder clock atom interferometer is found to become when all relativistic kinematics are included. We calculate exact phase shifts for both clock (single-photon) interferometers and Raman or Bragg (two-photon) interferometers.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2607.10042,
title = {Exact Semiclassical Phase Shifts for Relativistic Atom Interferometers in Flat Spacetime},
author = {Hunter Swan and Jason M. Hogan},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.10042},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
15 pages, 6 figures