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Journal of Modern Optics

Longitudinal coherence in cold atom interferometry

James R. Kellogg, Nan Yu, James M. Kohel, Robert J. Thompson, David C. Aveline, Lute Maleki

Published Nov 10, 2007• 12 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We give experimental evidence to confirm that the coherence length of a cold atomic wave packet remains constant while the packet's overall physical size increases in time. Doppler sensitive atom interferometry allows for atoms to be prepared in a regime where de Broglie wavelengths are much more comparable to coherence lengths than in a thermal regime. Atomic wave packet interactions are a function of coherence length which is determined by the initial velocity spread of the atom wave.

DOI
10.1080/09500340701553030

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We give experimental evidence to confirm that the coherence length of a cold atomic wave packet remains constant while the packet's overall physical size increases in time. Doppler sensitive atom interferometry allows for atoms to be prepared in a regime where de Broglie wavelengths are much more comparable to coherence lengths than in a thermal regime. Atomic wave packet interactions are a function of coherence length which is determined by the initial velocity spread of the atom wave.
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