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arXiv:2606.04430 · Physical Review A

Atom Interferometry with Transverse Optical Modes

Ryan Husband, Ryan J. Thomas, Yosri Ben-Aïcha, Rhys H. Eagle, Jessica Eastman, John E. Debs, Patrick J. Everitt, Michael Larsen, Eric Imhof, Charles A. Sackett, John D. Close, Simon A. Haine, Samuel Legge

physics.atom-phquant-phSubmitted Jun 3, 2026• Announced Jun 4, 2026• 0 citations• Revised Jun 4, 2026 (v2)
v1 · Jun 3, 2026v2 · Jun 4, 2026v3 · Jun 7, 2026v4 · Oct 24, 2026
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Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate atom interferometry using the transverse phase profile of an optical mode. As proof-of-principle, we use the helical phase windings of Hypergeometric Gaussian beams for Ramsey interferometry with ensembles of ballistically-expanding cold Rb87 atoms, and we show that the interferometer can measure rotations induced by a motor with a sensitivity that scales linearly with orbital angular momentum and interferometer time. We characterize the thermal decoherence of the interferometer, deriving and experimentally confirming a closed-form expression for the spatially-varying interferometer visibility arising near the singularity of the helical phase winding, motivating the use of condensed atoms in ring-shaped traps.

Journal reference
Phys. Rev. A 114, 043311 (2026)
DOI
10.1103/qct9-98y4
Comments
9 pages, 5 figures

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