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Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics

Atomic spatial coherence monitoring and engineering with magnetic fields

O. Gorceix, É. Maréchal, T. Miossec, Romain Long, J.-L. Bossennec, R. Barbé, J. Keller

Published Aug 29, 2005• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Summary form only given. Spatial coherences are measured by means of a new atom interferometry technique. First, a coherent superposition of the Zeeman components of the atom is built by means of well-controlled magnetic interactions. Second, pulsed inhomogeneous magnetic fields are employed to coherently separate and reunite the atomic substates via the Stern-Gerlach induced forces. Finally, atomic interference fringes are recorded on the state-selected outcoming sample by changing the spatial separation. This method bears strong similarities with the Fourier-transform spectroscopy of light. The interferogram visibility curve yields the atom sample spatial coherences. For example, when the applied magnetic gradients are parallel to the atom trajectory, one gets the coherence length by varying the overlap of the separated wavepackets. Several experiments on cold cesium atoms have been performed and are presented. Furthermore, we have used our magnetic cooling method to prepare the atom cloud upstream from the interferometer. Large enhancements of the coherence length are demonstrated.

DOI
10.1109/iqec.2000.907949

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Summary form only given. Spatial coherences are measured by means of a new atom interferometry technique. First, a coherent superposition of the Zeeman components of the atom is built by means of well-controlled magnetic interactions. Second, pulsed inhomogeneous magnetic fields are employed to coherently separate and reunite the atomic substates via the Stern-Gerlach induced forces. Finally, atomic interference fringes are recorded on the state-selected outcoming sample by changing the spatial separation. This method bears strong similarities with the Fourier-transform spectroscopy of light. The interferogram visibility curve yields the atom sample spatial coherences. For example, when the applied magnetic gradients are parallel to the atom trajectory, one gets the coherence length by varying the overlap of the separated wavepackets. Several experiments on cold cesium atoms have been performed and are presented. Furthermore, we have used our magnetic cooling method to prepare the atom cloud upstream from the interferometer. Large enhancements of the coherence length are demonstrated.
We report on a simple and versatile method by which to measure and tailor massive particle ensemble coherences using pulsed magnetic fields. A multiple wave atom interferometer is demonstrated that uses a spin-echo procedure associated with the spatial separation of the Zeeman sublevel wave packets induced by magnetic forces. This scheme provides a means to determine ultralow temperatures by measuring the sample coherence length. Furthermore, we show how a pulsed quasiparabolic magnetic potential can be used to enhance the atom ensemble coherence length by a factor of 2.
We report on the realization of various nine-wave atom polarization interference experiments using pulsed magnetic fields. Diabatic transitions by rapid changes in the applied magnetic-field direction are used to coherently manipulate the spin coherences of cold cesium atoms. A large number of high-contrast sharply peaked fringes are obtained by state-selecting the outcoming cloud. Atom optical components similar to crystal wave plates are implemented. The spin dynamics is studied under various experimental procedures. When the applied field is homogeneous, the nondispersive character of the phase shift is evidenced. Fringe blurring related to inhomogeneous effects is discussed.
An electric analogue of the longitudinal Stern-Gerlach matter-wave interferometer has been realized for atoms in Rydberg states with high principal quantum number n. The experiments were performed with He atoms prepared in coherent superpositions of the n=55 and n=56 circular Rydberg states in a zero electric field by a π/2 pulse of resonant microwave radiation. These atoms were subjected to a pulsed inhomogeneous electric field to generate a superposition of momentum states before a π pulse was applied to invert the internal states. The same pulsed inhomogeneous electric field was then reapplied for a second time to transform the motional states to have equal momenta before a further π/2 pulse was employed to interrogate the final Rydberg state populations. This Hahn-echo microwave pulse sequence, interspersed with a pair of equivalent inhomogeneous electric field pulses, yielded two spatially separated matter waves. Interferences between these matter waves were observed as oscillations in the final Rydberg state populations as the amplitude of the pulsed electric field gradients was adjusted.
An atom interferometer using two Stern-Gerlach magnets as polariser and analyser is described. The interferometer was first operated with a thermal beam of ground state potassium atoms. In that case the beam splitters are two radio-frequency zones within a transverse homogeneous magnetic field building a coherent superposition of Zeeman states. Ramsey fringes are obtained by scanning the RF-frequency through the resonance profile. Pulsing the RF power allows to get the time-of-flight distribution of the beam. Atomic interference fringes (``Stern-Gerlach fringes'') are observed when the magnitude of an inhomogeneous magnetic field located in between the beam splitters is scanned. When the inhomogeneous field is also pulsed, the scalar Bohm-Aharonov effect is observed. The use of metastable helium atoms (He*23S) in place of potassium atoms is proposed. In addition to the usual advantages provided by metastable atoms of high internal energy, this atom offers the specific advantage to behave as an ideal spin-one particle. This allows us to greatly simplify the polarisation scheme of the interferometer. Possible applications involving transversally inhomogeneous magnetic fields are given and limitations due to the finite source size and angular aperture are discussed.
Atom interferometry with high visibility is of high demand for precision measurements. Here, a parallel multicomponent interferometer is achieved by preparing a spin-2 Bose-Einstein condensate of 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atoms confined in a hybrid magneto-optical trap. After the preparation of a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate with spin degrees of freedom entangled, we observe four spatial interference patterns in each run of measurements corresponding to four hyperfine states we mainly populate in the experiment. The atomic populations in different Zeeman sublevels are made controllably using magnetic-field-pulse induced Majorana transitions. The spatial separation of atom cloud in different hyperfine states is reached by Stern-Gerlach momentum splitting. The high visibility of the interference fringes is reached by designing a proper overlap of the interfering wave packets. Due to uncontrollable phase accumulation in Majorana transitions, the phase of each individual spin is found to be subjected to unreproducible shift in multiple experimental runs. However, the relative phase across different spins is stable, paving a way towards noise-resilient multicomponent parallel interferometers.
We have used a separated beam atom interferometer to investigate magnetically-induced phase shifts of the different magnetic substates of the sodium ground state. We have observed periodic rephasing of the 8 independent magnetic substates present in an unpolarized sodium beam as the differential magnetic field is increased on opposite sides of the interferometer. We have also demonstrated that two phase shifts with similar velocity dependences can be used to cancel each other, creating an interference pattern from one magnetic substate although an unpolarized beam is sent into the interferometer. Finally we discuss some applications of these techniques.