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Physical Review X

Quantum-Assisted Measurement of Atomic Diamagnetism

Yaakov Y. Fein, Armin Shayeghi, Lukas Mairhofer, Filip Kiałka, Philipp Rieser, Philipp Geyer, Stefan Gerlich, Markus Arndt

Published Jan 22, 2020• 8 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report the first measurement of ground-state diamagnetism of isolated neutral atoms in an atomic beam.We realize this measurement using magnetic deflection of fringes in a long-baseline matter-wave interferometer.The observed diamagnetic susceptibilities of -5.8 Æ 0.2 Æ 0.4 × 10 -9 m 3 =kg for barium and -7.0 Æ 0.3 Æ 0.7 × 10 -9 m 3 =kg for strontium are in good agreement with the theoretical values and correspond to a measured force on the order of 10 -26 N. The high force sensitivity also allows us to observe the isotope dependence of the interference visibility due to the nuclear permanent magnetic moment, thereby demonstrating a new method for neutral isotope selection.The universality of the technique allows the magnetism of a wide range of atoms and molecules to be studied in the gas phase.

DOI
10.1103/physrevx.10.011014

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We report the first measurement of ground-state diamagnetism of isolated neutral atoms in an atomic beam.We realize this measurement using magnetic deflection of fringes in a long-baseline matter-wave interferometer.The observed diamagnetic susceptibilities of -5.8 Æ 0.2 Æ 0.4 × 10 -9 m 3 =kg for barium and -7.0 Æ 0.3 Æ 0.7 × 10 -9 m 3 =kg for strontium are in good agreement with the theoretical values and correspond to a measured force on the order of 10 -26 N. The high force sensitivity also allows us to observe the isotope dependence of the interference visibility due to the nuclear permanent magnetic moment, thereby demonstrating a new method for neutral isotope selection.The universality of the technique allows the magnetism of a wide range of atoms and molecules to be studied in the gas phase.
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We present an atom interferometer based on the interference of three partial matter waves in three different internal and external states. Coherent laser excitation acts as a beamsplitter to create a superposition state of the ground state and two Zeeman sublevels of the metastable state of magnesium atoms. The interference pattern of the output ports shows high contrast and the characteristics of three-beam interferences as known from optical interferometry. In comparison to two-beam interferometry a reduction of the fringe width of (32\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}8)% is observed. This offers various possibilities for improved measurements of quantum-mechanical phases due to the internal atomic-state sensitive coupling of external potentials. This is demonstrated for the interaction of magnesium atoms with an external magnetic field.
We explore a wide range of fundamental magnetic phenomena by measuring the dephasing of matter-wave interference fringes upon application of a variable magnetic gradient. The versatility of our interferometric Stern-Gerlach technique enables us to study the magnetic properties of alkali atoms, organic radicals, and fullerenes in the same device, with magnetic moments ranging from a Bohr magneton to less than a nuclear magneton. We find evidence for magnetization of a supersonic beam of organic radicals and, most notably, observe a strong magnetic response of a thermal C_{60} beam consistent with high-temperature atomlike deflection of rotational magnetic moments.
Interference of matter waves is at the heart of quantum physics and has been observed for a wide range of particles from electrons to complex molecules. Here, we demonstrate matter wave interference of single positrons using a period-magnifying Talbot-Lau interferometer based on material diffraction gratings. The system produced high-contrast periodic fringes, which were detected by means of nuclear emulsions capable of determining the impact point of each individual positron with submicrometric resolution. The measured energy dependence of fringe contrast in the range of 8 to 16 keV proves the quantum-mechanical origin of the periodic pattern and excludes classical projective effects, providing the first observation to date of antimatter wave interference. Future applications of this interferometric technique include the measurement of the gravitational acceleration of neutral antimatter systems exploiting the inertial sensing capabilities of Talbot-Lau interference.
We have constructed an atom interferometer using three 200 nm period transmission gratings. The two interfering portions of each atom’s wave pass on opposite sides of a stretched metal foil. A fringe amplitude of up to 900 cps is observed, which allows us to determine the phase to 15 milliradians in 1 minute. By applying different interactions to the two sides of the interferometer, we have determined the electric polarizability of the ground state of sodium, the coherence length of our beam, and the differential phase shifts and coherences of the different Zeeman ground states in a magnetic field. Some future prospects of separated beam experiments are discussed.