Dispersive and nondispersive phase shifts in atomic Stern-Gerlach interferometry
O. Gorceix, Jacques Robert, Síle Nic Chormaic +2 more
We present experimental results on metastable hydrogen-beam Stern-Gerlach interferometry using either static magnetic fields or time-dependent magnetic fields. The shared experimental scheme is presented. The dispersive behavior of the induced phase shift in the static situation is evidenced. The time-dependent (pulsed) scheme has provided experimental evidence for an external wave-function phase shift in atom force-free dynamical evolution. This so-called scalar Bohm-Aharonov (SAB) effect is thoroughly investigated. As opposed to the static field case, the nondispersive behavior of the SAB effect is validated. Experiments that mix static and pulsed magnetic fields are performed to reach the provisional goal to test nontrivial phase additivity. In all cases, experimental results are shown to be consistent with theoretical predictions derived from a tentative model including the deterministic magnetic phase shifts as well as additional random shifts due to experimental imperfections.
Physical Review A•Dec 1, 1994•3 citations