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AIP conference proceedings

Atom interferometry

David E. Pritchard, Christopher R. Ekstrom, Jörg Schmiedmayer, Michael Chapman, Troy D. Hammond

Published Jan 1, 1993• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

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.

DOI
10.1063/1.45079

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arXiv:quant-ph/0506106•Physical Review A•Jan 30, 2006•63 citations
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.
We have constructed an atom interferometer with interfering beams that are physically isolated by a metal foil. By applying an interaction to one of the two interfering beams, we can measure ground-state energy shifts with a spectroscopic precision of 6.6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}14}$ eV/\ensuremath{\surd}min , or 16 Hz/\ensuremath{\surd}min . Applying an electric field to one beam of the interferometer, we have measured the phase shift induced from the quadratic Stark effect. By analyzing these phase shifts, we have determined the ground-state polarizability of sodium, with much improved accuracy, to be 24.11(6)statistical{)}_{\mathrm{statistical}})statistical​(6)systematic{)}_{\mathrm{systematic}})systematic​\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}24}$ cm3{\mathrm{cm}}^{3}cm3.
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.
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 have built an atom interferometer and, by applying an electric field on one of the two interfering beams, we have measured the static electric polarizability of lithium $\ensuremath{\alpha}=(24.33\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.16)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}30}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{m}}^{3}$ with a 0.66% uncertainty. Our experiment is similar to an experiment done on sodium in 1995 by Pritchard and co-workers, with several improvements: the electric field can be calculated analytically and the interference signals have a large intensity and a high visibility, resulting in accurate phase measurements. This experiment illustrates the extreme sensitivity of atom interferometry: when the atom enters the electric field, its velocity increases and the fractional change, equal to $4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}9}$ for our largest field, is measured with a ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$ accuracy.