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Physical Review Letters

Separated-Path Ramsey Atom Interferometer

P. D. Featonby, G. S. Summy, C. L. Webb, R. M. Godun, Markus K Oberthaler, AC Wilson, Christopher J. Foot, Keith R. Burnett

Published Jul 20, 1998• 33 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We demonstrate a novel type of cesium atom interferometer which uses a combination of a microwave ground state transition and momentum changing adiabatic transfer light pulses as the atom optical components. It is the first atom interferometer where the mechanism which forms the internal superposition plays no part in spatially splitting the atomic wave packets. The coherence length of the atom source is found by measuring the spatial correlation between the two interferometer arms. This allows us to determine the temperature of the atomic ensemble.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.81.495

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We demonstrate a novel type of cesium atom interferometer which uses a combination of a microwave ground state transition and momentum changing adiabatic transfer light pulses as the atom optical components. It is the first atom interferometer where the mechanism which forms the internal superposition plays no part in spatially splitting the atomic wave packets. The coherence length of the atom source is found by measuring the spatial correlation between the two interferometer arms. This allows us to determine the temperature of the atomic ensemble.
We present an atom interferometry technique in which the beam splitter is split into two separate operations. A microwave pulse first creates a spin-state superposition, before optical adiabatic passage spatially separates the arms of that superposition. Despite using a thermal atom sample in a small (600 μm) interferometry beam, this procedure delivers an efficiency of 99% per ℏk of momentum separation. Utilizing this efficiency, we first demonstrate interferometry with up to 16ℏk momentum splitting and free-fall limited interrogation times. We then realize a single-source gradiometer, in which two interferometers measuring a relative phase originate from the same atomic wave function. Finally, we demonstrate a resonant interferometer with over 100 adiabatic passages, and thus over 400ℏk total momentum transferred.
A new type of hybrid atom-light interferometer is demonstrated with atomic Raman amplification processes replacing the beam splitting elements in a traditional interferometer. This nonconventional interferometer involves correlated optical and atomic waves in the two arms. The correlation between atoms and light developed with the Raman process makes this interferometer different from conventional interferometers with linear beam splitters. It is observed that the high-contrast interference fringes are sensitive to the optical phase via a path change as well as the atomic phase via a magnetic field change. This new atom-light correlated hybrid interferometer is a sensitive probe of the atomic internal state and should find wide applications in precision measurement and quantum control with atoms and photons.
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We demonstrate a robust single-photon Ramsey interferometer based on a single Rydberg excitation, where the photon is stored as a Rydberg polariton in an ensemble of atoms. This coherent conversion of the photon to Rydberg polariton enables to split an incoming photon into a superposition state of two Rydberg states by applying microwave fields, which constructs two paths of interferometer. Ramsey interference fringes are demonstrated when we scan either the detuning of the microwave or the free evolution time, from which we can obtain the resonant transition frequency of two Rydberg states. We use the Ramsey-like sequence to demonstrate coherent manipulation of the stored single-photon to construct different interference patterns. In addition, the robustness of the Ramsey interferometer to the fluctuation of incoming photon numbers and optical depth (OD) of the atomic ensemble is tested, showing that the coherent of Ramsey interferometer is preserved for input photon number in a range of R in < 15 and for OD varying from 1.0 to 4.0. The robust interferometer will find its applications in quantum precision measurement.
Summary form only given. Spatial coherences are measured by means of a new atom interferometry technique. First, a coherent superposition of the Zeeman components of the atom is built by means of well-controlled magnetic interactions. Second, pulsed inhomogeneous magnetic fields are employed to coherently separate and reunite the atomic substates via the Stern-Gerlach induced forces. Finally, atomic interference fringes are recorded on the state-selected outcoming sample by changing the spatial separation. This method bears strong similarities with the Fourier-transform spectroscopy of light. The interferogram visibility curve yields the atom sample spatial coherences. For example, when the applied magnetic gradients are parallel to the atom trajectory, one gets the coherence length by varying the overlap of the separated wavepackets. Several experiments on cold cesium atoms have been performed and are presented. Furthermore, we have used our magnetic cooling method to prepare the atom cloud upstream from the interferometer. Large enhancements of the coherence length are demonstrated.