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Physical Review Letters

Charged Wire Interferometer for Atoms

S. Nowak, N. Stuhler, Tilman Pfau, J. Mlynek

Published Dec 28, 1998• 27 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have realized a new type of atom interferometer based on the refraction of matter waves in the radially symmetric electric field of a charged wire. The fringe period shows a power law dependence on the field strength and the de Broglie wavelength. Since the latter dependence is weak, the interferometer has an almost ``white light'' character.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.81.5792

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We have realized a new type of atom interferometer based on the refraction of matter waves in the radially symmetric electric field of a charged wire. The fringe period shows a power law dependence on the field strength and the de Broglie wavelength. Since the latter dependence is weak, the interferometer has an almost ``white light'' character.
Atom interferometers have been successfully applied for precision measurements and the realization of basic gedanken experiments [1]. They consist of three or more atom optical elements to split, redirect, and recombine the motional state of the atoms. These elements are implemented either by freestanding microstructures or by light fields. For high precision applications, such as gyroscopes [2–5], a large throughput of the initial atomic flux is advantageous [6]. In order to efficiently use all atoms in an uncollimated thermal atomic beam, the ideal atom interferometer should produce equally spaced fringes for a wide range of transverse and longitudinal velocities. So called “white light” interferometers solve the problem for different longitudinal velocities by the recombination of only two velocity independent transverse momentum states at the output of the interferometer. Examples for this are the three-grating interferometer [7], operating with a transversely collimated beam, and the Raman interferometer [8]. Operation using a transversely uncollimated atomic beam can also be realized by the Raman interferometer and, for interferometers that do not require light, by the Talbot-Lau interferometer [9]. The latter, in contrast to Ref. [7], operates with three gratings in the Fresnel regime of matter wave diffraction. Since, in this case, many different momentum components build up the interference pattern, the typical length scale of the setup, the Talbot length, depends on the atomic velocity. The Talbot-Lau interferometer is, therefore, chromatic. In this work, we study a charged wire as the central element in an atom interferometer that requires only microstructures, operates in the Fresnel regime, and accepts, therefore, an uncollimated beam of atoms. At the same time, it has essentially white light character over the range of the atomic velocities in our thermal atomic beam. This makes future extensions of our approach based on microstructures potentially as powerful as, for example, the Raman interferometer gyroscope [5]. The attractive interaction between the induced dipole and the charged wire redirects the atomic trajectories to form a simple interferometer with two spatially separated paths. It can, therefore, also be used to measure the recently proposed topological phase shifts for moving electric dipoles [10–13].
Although interferometry's earliest and most familiar use is with photons, the discovery of matter-wave (deBroglie-wave) interference for electrons demanded the development of quantum mechanics. Since then, matter-wave interferometry has been performed with neutrons, Cooper electron-pairs, and most recently, with whole atoms and diatomic molecules. This talk describes our recent high-flux atom interferometry experiments using the generalized Talbot-vonLau effect. Our interferometer consists of a sequence of three planar vacuum-slit diffraction gratings, microfabricated from silicon nitride membranes. DeBroglie-wave interference fringes are sensed by measuring the transmission of potassium atoms on a hot- wire as a function of grating relative position. Different spatial Fourier components (up to sixth) in the diffraction pattern are resonant in the interferometer at different atomic velocities (i.e., at different wavelengths). When a laser cooled slow atomic beam is incident, various different diffraction patterns are observed as a function of atomic velocity. In an alternative `Heisenberg Microscope' configuration an incident thermal beam produces a velocity average over different fringe Fourier components. AC modulated weak laser light passing through the interferometer interacts selectively with atoms at a specific velocity. The associated fringe pattern is then ac modulated and revealed by its selective destruction.
To improve precision measurements made with atom interferometers, the effect of de Broglie wave-front curvature induced by a lens inside an atom interferometer is experimentally demonstrated and theoretically analyzed. Electrostatic lenses shift, magnify, and distort atom interference fringes, which modifies the phase and the contrast of the interference signals. Informed by these observations, an improved method is presented for analyzing measurements of atomic beam velocity distributions using phase choppers [W. F. Holmgren, I. Hromada, C. E. Klauss, and A. D. Cronin, New J. Phys. 13, 115007 (2011)].