Abstract
We demonstrate a light-pulse atom interferometer based on the diffraction of free-falling atoms by a picosecond frequency-comb laser. More specifically, we coherently split and recombine wave packets of cold atoms by driving stimulated Raman transitions between the and hyperfine states, using two trains of picosecond pulses in a counterpropagating geometry. We study the impact of the pulses’ length as well as the interrogation time onto the contrast of the atom interferometer. Our experimental data are well reproduced by a numerical simulation based on an effective coupling that depends on the overlap between the pulses and the atomic cloud. These results pave the way for extending light-pulse interferometry to transitions in other spectral regions and therefore to other species, for new possibilities in metrology, sensing of gravito-inertial effects, and tests of fundamental physics.
- Received 8 July 2022
- Accepted 26 September 2022
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.173204
© 2022 American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Focus
Frequency Comb Measures Quantum Interference
Published 21 October 2022
A multiwavelength laser source known as a frequency comb provides a new technique for atom interferometry, potentially leading to new tests of fundamental physics.
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