Fluorescence detection at the atom shot noise limit for atom interferometry
Abstract
Atom interferometers are promising tools for precision measurement with applications ranging from geophysical exploration to tests of the equivalence principle of general relativity, or the detection of gravitational waves. Their optimal sensitivity is ultimately limited by their detection noise. We review resonant and near-resonant methods to detect the atom number of the interferometer outputs and we theoretically analyze the relative influence of various scheme dependent noise sources and the technical challenges affecting the detection. We show that for the typical conditions under which an atom interferometer operates, simultaneous fluorescence detection with a CCD sensor is the optimal imaging scheme. We extract the laser beam parameters such as detuning, intensity, and duration, required for reaching the atom shot noise limit.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1404.7117,
title = {Fluorescence detection at the atom shot noise limit for atom interferometry},
author = {Emanuele Rocco and Rebecca Palmer and Tristan Valenzuela and Vincent Boyer and Andreas Freise and Kai Bongs},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1404.7117},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
19 pages, 10 figures