Atom Interferometry with up to 24-Photon-Momentum-Transfer Beam Splitters
Holger Müller, Sheng‐wey Chiow, Quan Long +2 more
We present up to 24-photon Bragg diffraction as a beam splitter in light-pulse atom interferometers to achieve the largest splitting in momentum space so far. Relative to the 2-photon processes used in the most sensitive present interferometers, these large momentum transfer beam splitters increase the phase shift 12-fold for Mach-Zehnder (MZ) and 144-fold for Ramsey-Bordé (RB) geometries. We achieve a high visibility of the interference fringes (up to 52% for MZ or 36% for RB) and long pulse separation times that are possible only in atomic fountain setups. As the atom's internal state is not changed, important systematic effects can cancel.
arXiv:0712.1990•Physical Review Letters•May 8, 2008•290 citations