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Physical Review A

Dispersive and nondispersive phase shifts in atomic Stern-Gerlach interferometry

O. Gorceix, Jacques Robert, Síle Nic Chormaic, Christian Miniatura, J. Baudon

Published Dec 1, 1994• 3 citations

Abstract

We present experimental results on metastable hydrogen-beam Stern-Gerlach interferometry using either static magnetic fields or time-dependent magnetic fields. The shared experimental scheme is presented. The dispersive behavior of the induced phase shift in the static situation is evidenced. The time-dependent (pulsed) scheme has provided experimental evidence for an external wave-function phase shift in atom force-free dynamical evolution. This so-called scalar Bohm-Aharonov (SAB) effect is thoroughly investigated. As opposed to the static field case, the nondispersive behavior of the SAB effect is validated. Experiments that mix static and pulsed magnetic fields are performed to reach the provisional goal to test nontrivial phase additivity. In all cases, experimental results are shown to be consistent with theoretical predictions derived from a tentative model including the deterministic magnetic phase shifts as well as additional random shifts due to experimental imperfections.

DOI: 10.1103/physreva.50.5007

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In atomic Stern-Gerlach (polarization) interferometry with time-dependent magnetic fields both the spatial and temporal parts of the atomic phase are generally affected. This leads to a total energy shift and to an inelastic momentum transfer. Some of the related effects are studied using a beam of metastable hydrogen atoms. In particular the scalar Aharonov-Bohm effect and its nondispersivity are considered, in addition to other phase shift effects occurring where the field gradient differs from zero.

The scalar Aharonov-Bohm effect with a time-dependent magnetic field was investigated for ultracold sodium atoms using the time-domain atom interferometer. The 38 interference fringes with almost the same amplitude verified the nondispersivity of this effect. The measured phase shift as a function of the strength of the applied magnetic field agreed with the predicted one within an accuracy of 3%. With a weak magnetic field orthogonal to the quantization axis, the phase shift was in proportion to the variation of the strength of the resultant magnetic field.

The scalar version of the Aharonov-Bohm effect predicts a phase shift for de Broglie waves due to the action of a scalar potential in an otherwise field-free (i.e., force-free) region of space. Unlike the more familiar effect due to the magnetic vector potential, the scalar effect has hitherto remained unverified due, presumably, to technical difficulties in electron interferometry. Rather than using electrons acted on by electrostatic potentials, we have performed an analogous interferometry experiment with thermal neutorns subject to pulsed magnetic fields. The expected phase shifts have been observed to a high degree of accuracy.

A phase shift for de Broglie waves due to the action of a scalar potential in an otherwise field-free (i.e., force-free) region of space is known as the scalar Aharonov-Bohm (AB) effect. Unlike the more familiar AB effect due to the magnetic vector potential, the scalar effect has hitherto remained unverified due, presumably, to technical difficulties in electron interferometry. We have performed an analogous interferometric experiment with thermal neutrons subject to pulsed magnetic fields. The observations were carried out at the University of Missouri Research Reactor using a skew-symmetric perfect-silicon-crystal neutron interferometer. The expected phase shifts have been observed to a high degree of accuracy. A detailed description of the experiment and its interpretation is given in this paper.

A quadrupolar static magnetic field used as a phase object in a Stern-Gerlach atom interferometer produces phase shifts proportional to the distance to the zero-field line. As a consequence the transverse intensity profile of the atomic beam beyond the interferometer is modulated by an interference pattern which is a ``phase portrait'' of the field configuration. This pattern---a central bright spot surrounded by annular fringes---can be translated as a whole in any transverse direction by adding a homogeneous field to the quadrupolar field. These effects have been investigated experimentally with a beam of metastable hydrogen atoms

{\mathrm{H}}^{*}(2s),

either by measuring the atom flux through a fixed slit or by scanning the beam profile through a movable hole. The results are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions.