Related papers: An atom interferometer for measuring loss of coher…
We study the decoherence of atomic interferometers due to the scattering of stochastic gravitational waves. We evaluate the `direct' gravitational effect registered by the phase of the matter waves as well as the `indirect' effect…
We compare a conventional Mach-Zehnder light-pulse atom interferometer based on diffractive mirrors with one that uses specular reflection. In contrast to diffractive mirrors that generate a symmetric configuration, specular mirrors…
A novel atomic beam splitter, using reflection of atoms off an evanescent light wave, is investigated theoretically. The intensity or frequency of the light is modulated in order to create sidebands on the reflected de Broglie wave. The…
Interference with atomic and molecular matter waves is a rich branch of atomic physics and quantum optics. It started with atom diffraction from crystal surfaces and the separated oscillatory fields technique used in atomic clocks. Atom…
In this paper, we present a brief overview of atom interferometry. This field of research has developed very rapidly since 1991. Atom and light wave interferometers present some similarities but there are very important differences in the…
We study how coherent scattering of a background gas off an atom (or other matter) interferometer can lead to enhanced signals from phase shifts and contrast loss. We focus on the inclusion of realistic features of atom interferometers such…
We measure the decoherence of a spatially separated atomic superposition due to spontaneous photon scattering. We observe a qualitative change in decoherence versus separation as the number of scattered photons increases, and verify…
Atom interferometry is a natural laboratory for precision tests of general relativity, but there is no simple relationship between atom interferometer phase and geometric properties of spacetime. Here we show that a different atom…
Atom interferometers measure quantum interference patterns in the wave functions of cold atoms that follow superpositions of different space-time trajectories. These can be sensitive to phase shifts induced by fundamental physics processes…
Coherent interactions between electromagnetic and matter waves lie at the heart of quantum science and technology. However, the diffraction nature of light has limited the scalability of many atom-light based quantum systems. Here, we use…
The coherence time, and thus sensitivity, of trapped atom interferometers that use non-degenerate gasses are limited by the collisions between the atoms. An analytic model that describes the effects of collisions between atoms in an…
Atom and, more recently, molecule interferometers are used in fundamental research and industrial applications. Most atom interferometers rely on gratings made from laser beams, which can provide high precision but cannot reach very short…
Interferometers provide a highly sensitive means to investigate and exploit the coherence properties of light in metrology applications. However, interferometers come in various forms and exploit different properties of the optical states…
The coherence effects induced by external photons coupled to matter waves inside a Mach-Zehnder three-grating interferometer are analyzed. Alternatively to atom-photon entanglement scenarios, the model considered here only relies on the…
A new technique for maintaining high contrast in an atom interferometer is used to measure large de Broglie wave phase shifts. Dependence of an interaction induced phase on the atoms' velocity is compensated by applying an engineered…
We have realized an atom interferometer that probes gravitational potentials by holding, rather than dropping, atoms. Up to one minute of coherence times are realized by suspending the spatially separated atomic wave packets in an optical…
We demonstrate laser interferometry based on phase difference between the two arms of the interferometer. The experiments are done with a Cs atomic vapor cell at room temperature and use atomic coherence. The interference can be tuned from…
Marshall et al. gedanken experiment of the quantum superpposition of a mirror (oscilating part of a Michelson interferometer) interacting with single photon is consequently interpreted by relative decoherence.Such relative decoherence…
Decoherence due to scattering from background gas particles is observed for the first time in a Mach-Zehnder atom interferometer, and compared with decoherence due to scattering photons. A single theory is shown to describe decoherence due…
Wavefront distortions are a leading source of systematic uncertainty in light-pulse atom interferometry, limiting absolute measurements of gravitational acceleration at the 30 nm/s$^2$ level. Here, we demonstrate in situ spatially resolved…