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Large Momentum Transfer Clock Atom Interferometry on the 689 nm Intercombination Line of Strontium

Atomic Physics 2020-03-04 v2 Quantum Physics

Abstract

We report the first realization of large momentum transfer (LMT) clock atom interferometry. Using single-photon interactions on the strontium 1S03P1{}^1S_0 - {}^3P_1 transition, we demonstrate Mach-Zehnder interferometers with state-of-the-art momentum separation of up to 141k141\,\hbar k and gradiometers of up to 81k81\,\hbar k. Moreover, we circumvent excited state decay limitations and extend the gradiometer duration to 50 times the excited state lifetime. Because of the broad velocity acceptance of the interferometry pulses, all experiments are performed with laser-cooled atoms at a temperature of 3μK3\,\mu \text{K}. This work has applications in high-precision inertial sensing and paves the way for LMT-enhanced clock atom interferometry on even narrower transitions, a key ingredient in proposals for gravitational wave detection and dark matter searches.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1910.05459,
  title  = {Large Momentum Transfer Clock Atom Interferometry on the 689 nm Intercombination Line of Strontium},
  author = {Jan Rudolph and Thomas Wilkason and Megan Nantel and Hunter Swan and Connor M. Holland and Yijun Jiang and Benjamin E. Garber and Samuel P. Carman and Jason M. Hogan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1910.05459},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

6 pages, 4 figures