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Physical Review A

Theoretical and experimental study of the Bragg scattering of atoms from a standing light wave

David M. Giltner, Roger W. McGowan, S. A. Lee

Published Nov 1, 1995• 141 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We study up to the sixth order of Bragg deflection of metastable neon atoms from a standing light wave, corresponding to a momentum transfer of 12\ensuremath{\Elzxh}k. We derive an analytical result for the scattering probability, suitable for arbitrarily high Bragg order, and demonstrate its agreement with experimental results. We investigate the effect of velocity distribution on the Bragg process and show that overlapping diffraction orders can be resolved in velocity space. The prospect of using Bragg scattering as the optics in a Mach-Zehnder style atom interferometer with large splitting is discussed.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.52.3966

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Europhysics Letters (EPL)•May 10, 1996•78 citations
We study up to the sixth order of Bragg deflection of metastable neon atoms from a standing light wave, corresponding to a momentum transfer of 12\ensuremath{\Elzxh}k. We derive an analytical result for the scattering probability, suitable for arbitrarily high Bragg order, and demonstrate its agreement with experimental results. We investigate the effect of velocity distribution on the Bragg process and show that overlapping diffraction orders can be resolved in velocity space. The prospect of using Bragg scattering as the optics in a Mach-Zehnder style atom interferometer with large splitting is discussed.
We have constructed an atom interferometer by Bragg deflecting a collimated beam of metastable neon atoms from three parallel standing waves. Interference fringes have been observed using atoms Bragg scattered at up to the third order, giving a maximum of $6\ensuremath{\Elzxh}k$ transverse momentum difference between the two arms of the interferometer. In the first order case we have achieved a fringe contrast of 62% and a peak to peak signal of 1700 atoms/s. We believe this to be the highest fringe contrast that has been achieved in atom interferometers.
We performed extensive measurements on the scattering efficiency of atomic Bragg scattering on a standing light wave up to sixth order and developed a two-state Demkov model to explain the results. Using an effective 2N2N2N-photon coupling between the original and the reflected momentum states and the assumption of a mostly adiabatic transfer we derived the scattering probability. This probability has two factors: an oscillating part which represents the well-known Pendell\"osung oscillation and a part that is peaked in the energy difference between the two momentum states. This last part describes the tolerance on the Bragg condition for angular misalignment. Comparison of the measurements and numerical simulations with this model shows good agreement.
We report on a novel atomic beamsplitter. It combines the advantages of Bragg scattering (transfer possible into a single, very high diffraction order due to adiabatic conservation of ‘transverse kinetic energy’) with the convenience of tuning the splitting angle simply by adjusting a magnetic field. It also offers the added flexibility of a three-port beamsplitter. Our configuration consists of a quasi-standing light wave with +-- polarization configuration and a transverse magnetic field. The incoming metastable (3P1) helium atoms intersect the light wave perpendicularly. Adiabatic transfer to a single diffraction order can be achieved by, e.g., starting with atoms in the M = 1, p = 0 substate (p denoting the transverse momentum) and tuning the magnetic field such that the energy of the M = 0, p = ±2n¯hk substates (with n the diffraction order and k the wavenumber of the light) is equal to the energyof the initial state. We have experimentally demonstrated quasi-Bragg scattering up to 8th order, confirmed the magnetic tunability, and compared our results with numerical simulations.
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.
Slow atoms from a magneto-optical trap are used to study diffraction from a near-resonant standing-wave light field. Long interaction times make it possible to observe unidirectional Bragg scattering. In particular, the Pendellösung interference effect between two resonant momentum states is demonstrated for first- and second-order diffraction. The oscillation frequency of second-order scattering shows a transition from a four-photon–type process at low light intensity to a two-photon–type process at higher intensity. The data are in quantitative agreement with a theoretical description which takes into account lowest-energy momentum states.