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arXiv:1808.03355 · Applied Physics Letters

Atom interferometry with top-hat laser beams

N. Mielec, Matteo Altorio, Sapam Ranjita Chanu, D. Horville, David Holleville, Leonid A. Sidorenkov, Arnaud Landragin, Rémi Geiger

Published Oct 15, 2018• 47 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The uniformity of the intensity and the phase of laser beams is crucial to high-performance atom interferometers. Inhomogeneities in the laser intensity profile cause contrast reductions and systematic effects in interferometers operated with atom sources at micro-Kelvin temperatures and detrimental diffraction phase shifts in interferometers using large momentum transfer beam splitters. We report on the implementation of a so-called top-hat laser beam in a long-interrogation-time cold-atom interferometer to overcome the issue of inhomogeneous laser intensity encountered when using Gaussian laser beams. We characterize the intensity and relative phase profiles of the top-hat beam and demonstrate its gain in atom-optic efficiency over a Gaussian beam, in agreement with numerical simulations. We discuss the application of top-hat beams to improve the performance of different architectures of atom interferometers.

DOI
10.1063/1.5051663

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The development of atom interferometry in the last few decades has led to high precision measurements of inertial effects and tests of fundamental physics. New methods for higher sensitivity atom interferometers (AIs) are being explored, particularly the interrogation of atoms with optical cavities [1]. Its benefits would be higher optical power allowing large momentum transfer beam splitters, and possibly cleaner and controlled phase profiles. However high sensitivity AIs require long interrogation times, which combined with cold atom expansion, bring the challenges of large waists in cavities.
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Atom interferometry is a highly versatile experimental technique for precision measurement, with applications in inertial sensing and tests of fundamental physics. Such interferometers rely on high fidelity transfer of atoms between internal states, which can be challenging when working with thermal atom clouds, where a range of resonance frequencies exists. Inhomogeneities in the spatial intensity distribution of the manipulation lasers can also give rise to a range of coupling strengths; both of these effects serve to reduce the fidelity of coherent manipulation operations. Composite pulses offer one route to high fidelity coherent manipulations. In this thesis we investigate the performance of composite pulses in a thermal cloud of Rubidium 85. We find remarkable agreement between theory and experimental investigation of composite inversion pulses, and build on this to model the performance of such pulses in atom interferometers. We also find excellent agreement between our model and the first experimental demonstration of an application of interferometry in the cooling of atoms; this is the first step towards implementing this cooling method in complex structures like molecules.
Abstract Laser frequency fluctuation and atomic thermal motion can lead to errors in pulse area and detuning in cold atom interferometry, thereby reducing measurement stability and fringe contrast. To address this issue, we investigate the use of super-Gaussian pulses, which are characterized by smooth temporal profiles and centralized energy distribution, in the beam-splitting and reflection stages of an atom interferometer. In this theoretical and numerical study, we compare the performance of rectangular, Gaussian, and 2nd- to 10th-order super-Gaussian pulses subject to deviations in pulse area and detuning. Our results show that both Gaussian and super-Gaussian pulses offer a significant advantage over traditional rectangular pulses, particularly under thermal conditions where velocity spread is prominent. We find that 4th-order pulses achieving up to a 87.9% improvement in contrast over rectangular pulses under realistic conditions, and while their peak performance at very low temperatures is comparable to that of Gaussian pulses, they demonstrate enhanced robustness against combined detuning and pulse area errors. These findings demonstrate that super-Gaussian pulse shaping is an effective method for enhancing the robustness of atom interferometers against errors induced by thermal motion.
Abstract Coherent manipulation of atoms with atom-optic light pulses is central to atom interferometry. Achieving high pulse efficiency is essential for enhancing fringe contrast and sensitivity, in particular for large-momentum transfer interferometers which use an increased number of pulses. We perform an investigation of optimizing the frequency domain of pulses by using tailored polychromatic light fields, and demonstrate the possibility to deliver high-efficiency and resilient atom-optic pulses even in the situation of inhomogeneous atomic clouds and laser beams. We find that this approach is able to operate over long interrogation times despite spontaneous emission and to achieve experimentally relevant pulse efficiencies for clouds up to 100 μK100~\mu \text{K}100 μK 100 μ K . This overcomes some of the most stringent barriers for large-momentum transfer and has the potential to reduce the complexity of atom interferometers. We show that polychromatic light pulses could enhance single-photon-based large-momentum transfer atom interferometry—achieving 850 ℏk850\,\hbar k850ℏk 850 ħ k of momentum splitting with experimentally accessible parameters, which represents a significant improvement over the state-of-the art. The benefits of the method extend beyond atom interferometry and could enable groundbreaking advances in quantum state manipulation.