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The Development of a Light Pulse Atom Interferometer Towards a Parameter Search of the Dark Contents of the Vacuum.

OS Burrow

Published Jan 1, 2016• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A parameter space search for dark contents of the vacuum utilising atom interferometry is motivated. This methodology is potentially sensitive to any dark contents of the vacuum that are spatially inhomogeneous on the lab scale, and couple to atoms in addition to the gravitational force. A path integral approach to atom interferometry is discussed and a parametrisation of the dark contents of the vacuum is presented. A magneto-optical trap is detailed, capable of trapping 6.5x10^7 atoms, as a cold atomic source for the atom interferometer. The development of a prototype light pulse Mach-Zehnder atom interferometer, currently in the commissioning stages is described, as well as a unique laser system capable of running the whole atom interferometer from just two extended cavity diode lasers. Using this device 1x10^6 atoms are trapped in a magneto-optical trap and further cooled to 96 μK in an optical molasses. This prototype device is now undergoing upgrades to create larger, colder sources of atoms for the interferometer.

DOI
10.17638/03001341

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A parameter space search for dark contents of the vacuum utilising atom interferometry is motivated. This methodology is potentially sensitive to any dark contents of the vacuum that are spatially inhomogeneous on the lab scale, and couple to atoms in addition to the gravitational force. A path integral approach to atom interferometry is discussed and a parametrisation of the dark contents of the vacuum is presented. A magneto-optical trap is detailed, capable of trapping 6.5x10^7 atoms, as a cold atomic source for the atom interferometer. The development of a prototype light pulse Mach-Zehnder atom interferometer, currently in the commissioning stages is described, as well as a unique laser system capable of running the whole atom interferometer from just two extended cavity diode lasers. Using this device 1x10^6 atoms are trapped in a magneto-optical trap and further cooled to 96 μK in an optical molasses. This prototype device is now undergoing upgrades to create larger, colder sources of atoms for the interferometer.
A light-pulse atom interferometer for inertial sensing applications such as gravimetry is being commissioned, where the prototype has a target relative precision (σ g /g) of one part per million to enable geophysics applications, which is three orders of magnitude less sensitive than commercial optical gravimeters, but with the potential to exceed these. As part of this, a rubidium-85 magneto-optical trap was upgraded using optical amplification and fibre optics to capture an atom population number of O(10 8 ) and sub-Doppler cooling techniques have been used to reach ultracold temperatures of 20 μK. Several interferometer subsystems have been developed, including extensive optical systems featuring a high-specification optical modulator and laser-induced fluorescence detection. Preliminary investigations into the coherent manipulation of atomic states have been implemented and the resonance peak of a stimulated Raman transition has been observed.
Atom Interferometry methods open new prospectives for absolute acceleration measurements; the quantum features of matter and the employment of atomic test masses with manipulation technique of internal and external degrees of freedom lead to a new generation of quantum sensors. In this thesis I present the development of a prototype for a transportable sensor at system and subsystem level. An instrument with such characteristics can find applications in many felds. The work has been developed in the framework of two European projects respectively oriented to the realization of an atom interferometry based absolute gravimeter for geophysical and metrological applications and to the realization of a Space Atom Interferometer for tests in micro-gravity environment. In order to focus on the possible scientific landscape I briefy illustrate in the introduction the existing devices and their characteristic performances, pointing out how the atom interferometry may represent a valid alternative leading to a new generation of quantum devices. The study, the development and the realization stages for our instrument are presented either for the laser system realization and for the the implementation of the whole apparatus. This work leads to the development of a very compact atomic physics interferometric system responding to the scientific requirements that represent our target. From the laser system side it has been realized also a complete and compact apparatus organized in a modular framework with stand alone components characterized by high working performances. This laser subsystem also includes laser sources in an external cavity configuration specially oriented to transportable apparatuses; they are characterized by an intrinsical passive stability, robustness and very narrow emission linewidth. The experience with neutral atom manipulation and with atom cooling and trapping technique has been integrated with a direct implementation, characterization and optimization of a Two Dimensional Magneto Optical Trap as a cold atoms source for an operating Atom Interferometer. Such kind of implementation represents a fundamental topic for a transportable sensor realization.
Atom interferometers measure the relative phase shifts between coherent matter-wave paths that arise from interactions with external fields or inertial forces. Due to their exceptional phase sensitivity, atom interferometers became an essential tool for precision measurements and fundamental physics experiments, finding applications in geodesy, gravimetry, and inertial navigation. However, their measurement precision is limited by quantum projection noise, which arises from the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, preventing the measurement of atomic states with absolute precision. The generation of entanglement between the atoms offers a path to surpass this so-called standard quantum limit, thereby enhancing the interferometer’s phase sensitivity beyond classical measurement bounds. This thesis reports on the development of an atom interferometer experiment designed to realize cavity-mediated, squeezed Mach-Zehnder-type interferometry with ultra-cold 87Rb atoms. The experiment combines cavity-aided spin-squeezing with cavity-mediated Mach-Zehnder interferometry to demonstrate entanglement-enhanced phase sensitivity. The experiment is centered on a triangular optical cavity that mediates all relevant atom-light interactions. The cavity provides optical trapping, spin-squeezing, and Raman beam-splitter operations, enabling to perform interferometry on a continuously trapped atomic ensemble. The thesis elaborates on the fundamental theoretical framework, the cavity design, and the full optical setup, including the detailed configuration of the developed laser stabilization methods. Experimentally, continuous loading methods were explored, resulting in an accumulation of up to 4 × 106 atoms in the dipole trap within a cycle time of 500 ms. The AC Stark shift compensation method developed for continuous loading was further applied for in-trap cooling to 10 µK, and optical pumping for efficient atomic state preparation. Coherent state control was verified via observation of microwave-driven Rabi oscillations, and used to characterize atom-cavity coupling. These presented results establish the experimental groundwork for the future development of cavity-mediated, entanglement-enhanced Mach-Zehnder-type atom interferometry.
Atom interferometers are quantum mechanical devices sensitive to gravitational and inertial forces, with applications in fundamental physics and inertial sensing in the field. Their performance is currently limited by the interrogation time available to freely falling atoms in Earth’s gravitational field, as well as noise due to mechanical and acoustic vibrations. Our experiment probes gravitational potentials by holding, rather than dropping, atoms. We realize an interrogation time of 20 seconds by suspending the spatially separated atomic wave packets in an optical lattice. This record coherence is enabled by the smooth lattice wave fronts, which are mode-filtered by an optical cavity. This trapped geometry suppresses phase variance due to vibrations by three to four orders of magnitude, overcoming the dominant noise source in atom-interferometric gravimeters. The later part of the talk describes recent progress in characterizing and reducing dephasing of the interferometer. An upgraded optical lattice interferometer experiment is currently being commissioned, with the goal of increased sensitivity to gravity.
Abstract Large-scale atom interferometers promise unrivaled strain sensitivity to mid-band gravitational waves, and will probe a new parameter space in the search for ultra-light scalar dark matter. These proposals require gradiometry with kilometer-scale baselines, a momentum separation above 104ℏk between interferometer arms, and optical transitions to long-lived clock states to reach the target sensitivities. Prohibitively high optical power and wavefront flatness requirements have thus far limited the maximum achievable momentum splitting. Here we propose a scheme for optical cavity enhanced atom interferometry, using circulating, spatially resolved pulses, and intracavity frequency modulation to meet these requirements. We present parameters for the realization of 20 kW circulating pulses in a 1 km interferometer enabling 104ℏk splitting on the 698 nm clock transition in 87Sr. This scheme addresses the presently insurmountable laser power requirements and is feasible in the context of a kilometer-scale atom interferometer facility.