An atom interferometer for measuring loss of coherence from an atom mirror

The exquisite precision of atom interferometers has sparked the interest of a large community for use cases ranging from fundamental physics to geodesy and inertial navigation. However, their practical use for onboard applications is still limited, not least because rotation and acceleration are intertwined in a single phase shift in free-fall atom interferometers, which makes the extraction of a useful signal more challenging. Moreover, the spatial separation of the wave pac...

We present a detailed study of the effects of imperfect atom-optical manipulation in Bragg-based light-pulse atom interferometers. Off-resonant higher-order diffraction leads to population loss, spurious interferometer paths, and diffraction phases. In a path-dependent formalism, we study numerically various effects and analyze the interference signal caused by an external phase or gravity. We compare first-order single and double Bragg diffraction in retroreflective setups. ...

Multi-loop matter-wave interferometers are essential in quantum sensing to measure the derivatives of physical quantities in time or space. Because multi-loop interferometers require multiple reflections, imperfections of the matter-wave mirrors create spurious paths that scramble the signal of interest. Here we demonstrate a method of adjustable momentum transfer that prevents the recombination of the spurious paths in a double-loop atom interferometer aimed at measuring rot...

We describe a detector that measures the mutual coherence of two optical fields directly using quantum interference, free from photon noise of the individual irradiances. Our approach utilizes Raman transition in an atomic system where the state evolution is driven by the mutual coherence of the fields interacting with the atoms. Feedback control is used to balance the interaction of the fields being characterized, providing a measure of the mutual coherence. We show that the...

Echo atom interferometers have emerged as interesting alternatives to Raman interferometers for the realization of precise measurements of the gravitational acceleration $g$ and the determination of the atomic fine structure through measurements of the atomic recoil frequency $\omega_q$. Here we review the development of different configurations of echo interferometers that are best suited to achieve these goals. We describe experiments that utilize near-resonant excitation o...

The development of nanotechnology and atom optics relies on understanding how atoms behave and interact with their environment. Isolated atoms can exhibit wave-like (coherent) behaviour with a corresponding de Broglie wavelength and phase which can be affected by nearby surfaces. Here an atom interferometer is used to measure the phase shift of Na atom waves induced by the walls of a 50 nm wide cavity. To our knowledge this is the first direct measurement of the de Broglie wa...

We have built and operated an atom interferometer of the Mach-Zehnder type. The atomic wave is a supersonic beam of lithium seeded in argon and the mirrors and beam-splitters for the atomic wave are based on elastic Bragg diffraction on laser standing waves at 671 nm. We give here a detailed description of our experimental setup and of the procedures used to align its components. We then present experimental signals, exhibiting atomic interference effects with a very high vis...

Optics and interferometry with matter waves is the art of coherently manipulating the translational motion of particles like neutrons, atoms and molecules. Coherent atom optics is an extension of techniques that were developed for manipulating \emph{internal} quantum states. Applying these ideas to translational motion required the development of techniques to localize atoms and transfer population coherently between distant localities. In this view position and momentum are ...

This paper explores the sensitivity gains afforded by spin-squeezed states in atom interferometry, in particular using Bragg diffraction. We introduce a generalised input-output formalism that accurately describes realistic, non-unitary interferometers, including losses due to velocity selectivity and scattering into undesired momentum states. This formalism is applied to evaluate the performance of one-axis twisted spin-squeezed states in improving phase sensitivity. Our res...

We report a direct observation of radiation pressure, exerted on cold rubidium atoms while bouncing on an evanescent-wave atom mirror. We analyze the radiation pressure by imaging the motion of the atoms after the bounce. The number of absorbed photons is measured for laser detunings ranging from {190 MHz} to {1.4 GHz} and for angles from {0.9 mrad} to {24 mrad} above the critical angle of total internal reflection. Depending on these settings, we find velocity changes parall...