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Physical Review A

Adiabatic-rapid-passage multiphoton Bragg atom optics

Tim Kovachy, Sheng‐wey Chiow, Mark A. Kasevich

Published Jul 20, 2012• 57 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The combination of adiabatic rapid passage and multiphoton Bragg diffraction (ARPMB pulses) to efficiently transfer many photon recoils of momentum ($\ensuremath{\hbar}k$) to cold-atom clouds is theoretically and experimentally investigated. This method is insensitive to perturbations of the pulse intensity or detuning. In particular, the theoretically calculated velocity acceptance can be up to $80%$ of one recoil velocity ${v}_{r}$, the theoretical maximum in Bragg diffraction. We experimentally demonstrate ARPMB pulses with transfer efficiency of 99.7$%$ per $\ensuremath{\hbar}k$ using $10\ensuremath{\hbar}k$ pulses, limited by spontaneous emission losses, and Mach-Zehnder interferometers with $80%$ contrast.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.86.011606

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The combination of adiabatic rapid passage and multiphoton Bragg diffraction (ARPMB pulses) to efficiently transfer many photon recoils of momentum (\ensuremathℏk\ensuremath{\hbar}k\ensuremathℏk) to cold-atom clouds is theoretically and experimentally investigated. This method is insensitive to perturbations of the pulse intensity or detuning. In particular, the theoretically calculated velocity acceptance can be up to 8080%80 of one recoil velocity vr{v}_{r}vr​, the theoretical maximum in Bragg diffraction. We experimentally demonstrate ARPMB pulses with transfer efficiency of 99.7% per \ensuremathℏk\ensuremath{\hbar}k\ensuremathℏk using 10\ensuremathℏk10\ensuremath{\hbar}k10\ensuremathℏk pulses, limited by spontaneous emission losses, and Mach-Zehnder interferometers with 8080%80 contrast.
Abstract Multi-photon Bragg diffraction is a powerful method for fast, coherent momentum transfer of atom waves. However, laser noise, Doppler detunings, and cloud expansion limit its efficiency in large momentum transfer (LMT) pulse sequences. We present simulation studies of robust Bragg pulses developed through numerical quantum optimal control. Optimized pulse performance under noise and cloud inhomogeneities is analyzed and compared to analogous Gaussian and adiabatic rapid passage pulses in simulated LMT Mach–Zehnder interferometry sequences. The optimized pulses maintain robust population transfer and phase response over a broader range of noise, resulting in superior contrast in LMT sequences with thermal atom clouds and intensity inhomogeneities. Large optimized LMT sequences use lower pulse area than Gaussian pulses, making them less susceptible to spontaneous emission loss. The optimized sequences maintain over five times better contrast with tens of ℏ k momentum separation and offer more improvement with greater LMT. Such pulses could allow operation of Bragg atom interferometers with unprecedented sensitivity, improved contrast, and hotter atom sources.
Bragg diffraction of matter waves is an established technique used in the most accurate quantum sensors. It is also the method of choice to operate large-momentum-transfer, high-sensitivity atom interferometers. It suffers, however, from an intrinsic multi-path character. Optimal control theory (OCT) has recently led to an improved robustness of atom interferometers to a range of challenging environmental effects such as vibrations or platform accelerations. In this theoretical work, we apply OCT protocols to control the Bragg diffraction phase shifts, thereby enhancing the metrological accuracy of the interferometer. We show a minimization of the diffraction phase for realistic conditions of finite temperature of the incoming wavepacket in a multi-path, high-order Bragg interferometer in a Mach–Zehnder configuration. We study input states with different momentum widths and find that our approach mitigates diffraction phases below the microradian level in the case of 1% of the photon recoil, thereby eliminating one of the leading systematic effects in atom interferometry.
The transition efficiency of atomic Bragg diffraction as mirrors and beam splitters in Bragg atom interferometers plays an essential role in impacting the fringe contrast and measurement sensitivity. This can be attributed to the properties of atomic sources, Bragg pulse shapes, the pulse duration, and the relative position deviation of the atoms and Bragg pulses. Here, we investigate the effect of the atomic source's diffusion and velocity width on the efficiency of Bragg diffraction of the moving cold atomic cloud. The transfer efficiency of Bragg mirrors and beam splitters are numerically simulated and experimentally measured, which are well consistent in comparison. We quantify these effects of atomic diffusion and velocity width and precisely compute how Bragg pulses' efficiencies vary as functions of these parameters. Our results and methodology allow us to optimize the Bragg pulses at different atomic sources and will help in the design of large momentum transfer mirrors and beam splitters in atom interferometry experiments.
In a retroreflective scheme with an atom initially at rest, atomic Raman diffraction adopts some of the properties of Bragg diffraction due to additional couplings to off-resonant momenta. As a consequence, double Raman diffraction has to be performed in a Bragg-type regime, where the pulse duration is sufficiently long to suppress diffraction into spurious orders. Taking advantage of this regime, double Raman allows for resonant higher-order diffraction. We study theoretically the case of third-order diffraction and compare it to first order as well as a sequence of first-order Raman pulses giving rise to the same momentum transfer as the third-order pulse. Moreover, we demonstrate that interferometry is possible, and we investigate amplitude and contrast of a third-order double Raman Mach-Zehnder interferometer. In fact, third-order diffraction constitutes a competitive tool for the diffraction of ultracold atoms and interferometry based on large momentum transfer since it allows one to reduce the complexity of the experiment as well as the total duration of the diffraction process compared to a sequence, at the cost of higher pulse intensities.
The population of atoms in Rydberg states is efficiently transferred with a change in principal quantum number nnn of up to ten via multiphoton adiabatic rapid passage through a single multiphoton resonance using a frequency-chirped microwave pulse. A quantum-mechanical picture of multiphoton adiabatic rapid passage in a one-dimensional atom using a Floquet approach provides a good description of most, but not all, of the observed phenomena.