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Physical Review A

Coherence of the two-level atom bichromatic beam splitter

S. Choi, Howard M. Wiseman, S. M. Tan, Daniel F. Walls

Published Jan 1, 1997• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The recently proposed two-level atom bichromatic beam splitter has been shown theoretically to give exceptionally clean beam splitting in momentum space. In this paper, we investigate the first-order coherence property of this beam splitter, which is an important test of its usefulness in interferometric applications. We find that the beam splitter exhibits maximum fringe visibility of 0.3, which may be increased significantly through conditioning on certain variables. We then propose a type of atom interferometer based on this system, which has many desirable properties when compared with existing versions.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.55.527

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The recently proposed two-level atom bichromatic beam splitter has been shown theoretically to give exceptionally clean beam splitting in momentum space. In this paper, we investigate the first-order coherence property of this beam splitter, which is an important test of its usefulness in interferometric applications. We find that the beam splitter exhibits maximum fringe visibility of 0.3, which may be increased significantly through conditioning on certain variables. We then propose a type of atom interferometer based on this system, which has many desirable properties when compared with existing versions.
We have developed a three-level atom interferometer using three-level atoms coupled with bichromatic fields in order to investigate the phase information between two excited states. First, we presented a theoretical description of the interaction of three-level atoms with bichromatic fields based on single-transition operators. Using the time evolution of a wave function, the equations of the interference fringes and the visibility were derived and calculated for several types of the three-level atom interferometers with bichromatic fields. Optimum excitation conditions were evaluated. Next, several types of three-level atom interferometers were demonstrated experimentally using a thermal calcium atomic beam with two Zeeman substates of m=1 and m=-1 in the long-lived excited state coupled with bichromatic resonant fields between the ground state and the excited states. The behaviors of the interference fringes were compared among them along with the calculated results. The three-level atom interferometer excited by two bichromatic laser beams separated in space was found to produce the largest visibility among them when the excitation power of each frequency component was the same.
We have developed a three-level atom interferometer using three-level atoms coupled with bichromatic fields in order to investigate the phase information between two excited states. First, we presented a theoretical description of the interaction of three-level atoms with bichromatic fields based on single-transition operators. Using the time evolution of a wave function, the equations of the interference fringes and the visibility were derived and calculated for several types of the three-level atom interferometers with bichromatic fields. Optimum excitation conditions were evaluated. Next, several types of three-level atom interferometers were demonstrated experimentally using a thermal calcium atomic beam with two Zeeman substates of m=1m=1m=1 and $m=\ensuremath{-}1$ in the long-lived excited state coupled with bichromatic resonant fields between the ground state and the excited states. The behaviors of the interference fringes were compared among them along with the calculated results. The three-level atom interferometer excited by two bichromatic laser beams separated in space was found to produce the largest visibility among them when the excitation power of each frequency component was the same.
Abstract Atomic beam splitters are fundamental components of atom interferometers, with broad applications in high sensitivity metrology and integrated atom optics devices. In this work, we theoretically demonstrate coherent beam splitting of a metastable helium atomic beam using a pulsed bichromatic standing wave. Our key innovation is a fully self-consistent model coupling the optical Bloch equations - which include spontaneous emission via a Lindblad term - with the classical equations of atomic motion, enabling the simulation of real-time splitting dynamics. This allows us to simulate the real-time dynamics and identify optimal experimental parameters neglected in prior splitter studies. Crucially, we find that the optimal standing-wave phase difference is ϕ= 3π/4, not π/2, maximizing the distinction between the dynamical pathways for splitting the metastable helium beam (2 3 S 1 →3 3 P 2 transition). We propose and validate the use of optical pulses shorter than the spontaneous emission lifetime to suppress decoherence. Monte Carlo simulations predict a clean binary split with a tunable splitting angle to 56 mrad, corresponding to 56 ħk momentum transfer, and a splitting efficiency of 55 - 83% via detuning.
We investigate schemes for the clean splitting of beams of three-level atoms using two standing-wave laser fields within an optical cavity. The proposed beam splitter is shown to work for atoms in the \ensuremath{\Lambda} ladder, and ssV configurations. For appropriate values of Rabi frequencies and detunings, we obtain a triangular type of potential for the atomic states of interest. As well as modeling the coherent evolution of the systems, we have used quantum Monte Carlo wave-function methods to model the effects of spontaneous emission on the resulting diffraction pattern, finding significant differences between the three configurations. We also investigate the limits of the Raman-Nath approximation for our systems, using the symmetric split-operator technique to include the effects of the kinetic term in the Hamiltonian. We also present the results of calculations in which the split output beams are recombined, demonstrating the expected interference for differently prepared input beams. In comparison with two-level beam splitters using a single standing wave, we obtain a superior splitting, while, in comparison with magneto-optical beam splitters, our system possesses the worthwhile practical advantages of experimental simplicity.
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.