Quasi-Bragg Scattering of Atoms: Flexible, Magnetically Tunable Beam Splitters for Interferometry
K. A. H. van Leeuwen, K.F.E.M. Domen, M.A.H.M. Jansen
We have used a new technique to construct a clean, large-angle, coherent atomic beam splitter with an easily adjustable splitting angle. Helium atoms in the J=1 metastable state diffract from a far-detuned light field with ‘corkscrew’ polarization in the presence of a homogeneous magnetic field. Adiabatic transfer from magnetic energy to ‘transverse kinetic energy’ then allows symmetric diffraction of the incoming beam in a single, high diffraction order with a different value of M. The order is set by the value of the magnetic field. The result is a flexible, adjustable, large-angle, three-way atomic beam splitter for atom interferometry.
Quantum-Atom Optics Downunder (QAO)•Jan 1, 2007•0 citations