Proper time in atom interferometers: Diffractive versus specular mirrors

@article{Giese2019ProperTI,
  title={Proper time in atom interferometers: Diffractive versus specular mirrors},
  author={Enno Giese and Alexander Friedrich and Fabio Di Pumpo and Albert Roura and Wolfgang P. Schleich and Daniel Mordecai Greenberger and Ernst Maria Rasel},
  journal={Physical Review A},
  year={2019}
}
We compare a conventional Mach--Zehnder light-pulse atom interferometer based on diffractive mirrors with one that uses specular reflection. In contrast to diffractive mirrors that generate a symmetric configuration, specular mirrors realized, for example, by evanescent fields lead under the influence of gravity to an asymmetric geometry. In such an arrangement the interferometer phase contains nonrelativistic signatures of proper time. 
View PDF on arXiv
11 Citations
Background Citations
2
Methods Citations
1

Figures and Tables from this paper

11 Citations

Citation Type

Citation Type

Specular mirror interferometer
Construction of a rubidium fountain atomic interferometer for gravity gradiometry
Atomic interferometry is a highly precise metrological technique of interest to both fundamental and applied physics. One field in which atomic interferometry is of particular interest is gravimetry,…
Bose-Einstein condensates in microgravity and fundamental tests of gravity
Light-pulse atom interferometers are highly sensitive to inertial and gravitational effects. As such they are promising candidates for tests of gravitational physics. In this article the…
Interference of clocks: A quantum twin paradox
TLDR
It is shown that closed light-pulse interferometers without clock transitions during the pulse sequence are not sensitive to gravitational time dilation in a linear potential, and can constitute a quantum version of the special-relativistic twin paradox.
Stern-Gerlach Interferometry with the Atom Chip
In this invited review in honor of 100 years since the Stern-Gerlach (SG) experiments, we describe a decade of SG interferometry on the atom chip. The SG effect has been a paradigm of quantum…
An atom interferometer testing the universality of free fall and gravitational redshift
Light-pulse atom interferometers constitute powerful quantum sensors for inertial forces. They are based on delocalised spatial superpositions and the combination with internal transitions directly…
Atom-interferometric test of the universality of gravitational redshift and free fall
Light-pulse atom interferometers constitute powerful quantum sensors for inertial forces. They are based on delocalised spatial superpositions and the combination with internal transitions directly…
Gravitational Redshift in Quantum-Clock Interferometry
The creation of delocalized coherent superpositions of quantum systems experiencing different relativistic effects is an important milestone in future research at the interface of gravity and quantum…
Gravitational Redshift Tests with Atomic Clocks and Atom Interferometers
Fabio Di Pumpo,1, ∗ Christian Ufrecht,1 Alexander Friedrich,1 Enno Giese,1, 2, 3 Wolfgang P. Schleich,1, 4, 5, 6 and William G. Unruh5, 7 1Institut für Quantenphysik and Center for Integrated Quantum…
Post-Newtonian Hamiltonian description of an atom in a weak gravitational field
We extend the systematic calculation of an approximately relativistic Hamiltonian for center of mass and internal dynamics of an electromagnetically bound two-particle system by Sonnleitner and…
...
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 66 REFERENCES
An atom interferometer for measuring loss of coherence from an atom mirror
Abstract.We describe an atom interferometer to study the coherence of atoms reflected from an evanescent wave mirror. The interferometer is sensitive to the loss of phase coherence induced by the…
Specular versus diffuse reflection of atoms from an evanescent-wave mirror.
TLDR
Only the highest quality surface (rms roughness of the order of 0.1 nm) leads to specular ref lection, which imposes stringent limits on the use of these mirrors in atomic-optics experiments.
102ℏk large area atom interferometers.
TLDR
This work achieves high contrast atom interferometers with momentum splittings of up to 102 photon recoil momenta, which is the highest momentum splitting achieved in anyatom interferometer, advancing the state-of-the-art by an order of magnitude.
Mechanisms of matter‐wave diffraction and their application to interferometers
Light pulses have proven to be a powerful and versatile tool to implement beam splitters and mirrors for matter waves enabling atom interferometers. However, for high‐precision measurements with such…
Phase modulation of atomic de Broglie waves.
TLDR
Cesium atoms prepared in a state of well-defined total energy have been reflected from a vibrating mirror, causing the matter waves to be phase modulated, and the resulting beam consists of a “carrier” plus various sidebands corresponding to de Broglie waves propagating at different velocities.
Theory of atomic diffraction from evanescent waves
Abstract.We review recent theoretical models and experiments dealing with the diffraction of neutral atoms by a reflection grating, formed by a standing evanescent wave. We analyze diffraction…
Comment on "Relativistic effects in atom and neutron interferometry and the differences between them" by Greenberger, Schleich and Rasel
Bragg diffraction is comparable to a hard-wall reflection if the Bragg condition is exactly fulfilled. However, in a neutron interferometer in the gravitational field (COW experiment) this is not the…
Overcoming loss of contrast in atom interferometry due to gravity gradients
Long-time atom interferometry is instrumental to various high-precision measurements of fundamental physical properties, including tests of the equivalence principle. Due to rotations and gravity…
Specular reflection of cold caesium atoms from a magnetostatic mirror
We have observed specular reflection and multiple bounces of a beam of laser-cooled caesium atoms from a magnetostatic mirror consisting of an array of rare-earth permanent magnets. Using a…
Atomic interferometry using stimulated Raman transitions.
The mechanical effects of stimulated Raman transitions on atoms have been used to demonstrate a matter-wave interferometer with laser-cooled sodium atoms. Interference has been observed for wave…
...
...