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Physical Review A

Atomic multiwave interferometer in an optical lattice

Min-Kang Zhou, Bruno Pelle, Adèle Hilico, Franck Pereira dos Santos

Published Jul 3, 2013• 22 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A multiwave atom interferometer using multiple Wannier-Stark states is experimentally realized in a vertical optical lattice. Atoms are coherently driven by stimulated Raman transitions into a superposition of several adjacent lattice sites, in which they evolve at multiples of Bloch frequency in the same internal state to form an interference pattern. We observe coherent evolution for more than 500 Bloch periods. The noise analysis shows that the phase resolution of this interferometer is detection noise limited. This multiwave interferometer could be a potential instrument for gravimetry and short-range forces measurement.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.88.013604

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A multiwave atom interferometer using multiple Wannier-Stark states is experimentally realized in a vertical optical lattice. Atoms are coherently driven by stimulated Raman transitions into a superposition of several adjacent lattice sites, in which they evolve at multiples of Bloch frequency in the same internal state to form an interference pattern. We observe coherent evolution for more than 500 Bloch periods. The noise analysis shows that the phase resolution of this interferometer is detection noise limited. This multiwave interferometer could be a potential instrument for gravimetry and short-range forces measurement.
Raman laser pulses are used to induce coherent tunneling between neighboring sites of a vertical 1D optical lattice. Such tunneling occurs when the detuning of a probe laser from the atomic transition frequency matches multiples of the Bloch frequency, allowing for a spectroscopic control of the coupling between Wannier-Stark (WS) states. In particular, we prepare coherent superpositions of WS states of adjacent sites, and investigate the coherence time of these superpositions by realizing a spatial interferometer. This scheme provides a powerful tool for coherent manipulation of external degrees of freedom of cold atoms, which is a key issue for quantum information processing.
Using cold 87{}^{87}87Rb atoms trapped in a one-dimensional (1D)-optical lattice, atomic interferometers involving coherent superpositions between different Wannier-Stark atomic states are realized. Two different kinds of trapped interferometer schemes are presented: a Ramsey-type interferometer sensitive both to clock frequency and external forces, and a symmetric accordion-type interferometer, sensitive to external forces only. We evaluate the limits in terms of sensitivity and accuracy of those schemes and discuss their application as force sensors. As a first step, we apply these interferometers to the measurement of the Bloch frequency and the demonstration of a compact gravimeter.
Atom interferometers provide a powerful tool for measuring physical constants and affirming fundamental physics with unprecedented precision. The sensitivity of atom interferometers is significantly enhanced by optical lattices and coherent atomic sources. However, their interplay gives rise to additional complexities and intriguing phenomena. Here, we report on realizing a Ramsey-Bord\'e interferometer of coherent matter waves modified by a moving optical lattice in a gravitational field, and explore a resulting multipath interference with tunable coherence. We investigate spatial correlations of atoms both within the lattice and between two arms by interferometry, and observed the emerging multiple interference peaks of the Bose-Einstein condensate with sublattice site resolution. Our findings agree well with simulations, paving the way for high-precision interferometry and exploring rich interferometer phenomena using ultracold atoms.
An atom interferometer based on Doppler-insensitive Raman transition is proposed, which has sharply peaked interference fringes for multi-wave interference. We show that two sets of counter-propagating Doppler-insensitive Raman beam pairs can be used to construct a new type of multi-wave beam splitter, which can be used to construct an atom interferometer. Although the spacing between adjacent diffraction orders of the interferometer is small, they can be distinguished by the internal state of the atom. Our analysis shows that the width of the fringes of this atom interferometer is inversely proportional to the width (duration) of the beam splitter and the Rabi frequency of the Raman beams, that is, the interferometer can achieve high resolution at high light intensity and long pulse width.
We report on experiments investigating quantum transport and band interferometry of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical lattice with a two-band miniband structure, realized with a Fourier-synthesized optical lattice potential. Bloch-Zener oscillations, the coherent superposition of Bloch oscillations and Landau-Zener tunneling between the two bands are observed. When the relative phase between paths in different bands is varied, an interference signal is observed, demonstrating the coherence of the dynamics in the miniband system. Measured fringe patterns of this Stückelberg interferometer allow to interferometrically map out the band structure of the optical lattice over the full Brillouin zone.
We present an atomic multiwave interferometer with magnetic sublevels to precisely determine the Aharonov-Casher (AC) geometric phase. Simulations show that this interferometer has sharper fringes than a normal two-wave interferometer, which means a higher phase resolution can be achieved. Moreover, atoms evolving in a single hyperfine structure state make the interferometer insensitive to the dc Stark phase shift. This dc Stark shift is one of the main noise sources in AC phase measurements. The constraint of the photon rest mass is also discussed when using this atomic interferometer to measure the Aharonov-Casher phase.