Interferometry with Bose-Einstein Condensates in Microgravity
Abstract
Atom interferometers covering macroscopic domains of space-time are a spectacular manifestation of the wave nature of matter. Due to their unique coherence properties, Bose-Einstein condensates are ideal sources for an atom interferometer in extended free fall. In this paper we report on the realization of an asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer operated with a Bose-Einstein condensate in microgravity. The resulting interference pattern is similar to the one in the far-field of a double-slit and shows a linear scaling with the time the wave packets expand. We employ delta-kick cooling in order to enhance the signal and extend our atom interferometer. Our experiments demonstrate the high potential of interferometers operated with quantum gases for probing the fundamental concepts of quantum mechanics and general relativity.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1301.5883,
title = {Interferometry with Bose-Einstein Condensates in Microgravity},
author = {H. Müntinga and H. Ahlers and M. Krutzik and A. Wenzlawski and S. Arnold and D. Becker and K. Bongs and H. Dittus and H. Duncker and N. Gaaloul and C. Gherasim and E. Giese and C. Grzeschik and T. W. Hänsch and O. Hellmig and W. Herr and S. Herrmann and E. Kajari and S. Kleinert and C. Lämmerzahl and W. Lewoczko-Adamczyk and J. Malcolm and N. Meyer and R. Nolte and A. Peters and M. Popp and J. Reichel and A. Roura and J. Rudolph and M. Schiemangk and M. Schneider and S. T. Seidel and K. Sengstock and V. Tamma and T. Valenzuela and A. Vogel and R. Walser and T. Wendrich and P. Windpassinger and W. Zeller and T. van Zoest and W. Ertmer and W. P. Schleich and E. M. Rasel},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1301.5883},
year = {2013}
}
Comments
8 pages, 3 figures; 8 pages of supporting material