Light-pulse atom interferometry in microgravity
Other Condensed Matter
2015-05-13 v1
Abstract
We describe the operation of a light pulse interferometer using cold 87Rb atoms in reduced gravity. Using a series of two Raman transitions induced by light pulses, we have obtained Ramsey fringes in the low gravity environment achieved during parabolic flights. With our compact apparatus, we have operated in a regime which is not accessible on ground. In the much lower gravity environment and lower vibration level of a satellite, our cold atom interferometer could measure accelerations with a sensitivity orders of magnitude better than the best ground based accelerometers and close to proven spaced-based ones.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0903.3284,
title = {Light-pulse atom interferometry in microgravity},
author = {Guillaume Stern and Baptiste Battelier and Rémi Geiger and Gael Varoquaux and André Villing and Frédéric Moron and Olivier Carra and Nassim Zahzam and Yannick Bidel and Oualid Chaibi and Frank Pereira Dos Santos and Alexandre Bresson and Arnaud Landragin and Philippe Bouyer},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0903.3284},
year = {2015}
}