Heidelberg 2015 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 75: Matter Wave Optics II
Q 75.5: Talk
Friday, March 27, 2015, 15:30–15:45, K/HS2
T3-interferometer for precise measurements — •Matthias Zimmermann1, Maxim A. Efremov1, Wolfgang P. Schleich1, Sara Desavage2, and Frank Narducci2 — 1Institut für Quantenphysik, Universität Ulm, Ulm, Germany — 2Naval Air Systems Command, EO Sensors Division, Patuxent River, Maryland 20670, USA
We present a novel scheme for an atom interferometer in order to increase the precision in measuring the gravitational acceleration g by a few orders of magnitude.
The propagator of a massive particle in a linear gravitation potential is well-known to contain a phase ϕg scaling with the third power of time T, ϕg∝ g2T3.
However, since in the conventional schemes [1,2] for atom interferometers both the ground and the excited atomic states are exposed to the same gravitational acceleration g,
the phase ϕg cancels out and the interferometer phase scales as T2.
In contrary, by applying an external magnetic field, we effectively prepare two different accelerations gg and ge for the ground and excited states of the atom.
In this way, depending on its internal state, the atom experiences two different phases ϕg(g,e)∝ gg,e2T3 and the total interferometer phase scales as T3.
W.P. Schleich, D.M. Greenberger, E.M. Rasel, New J. Phys. 15, 013007 (2013)
E. Giese et al.: Proceedings of the International School of Physics <<Enrico Fermi>> 15-20 July 2013 - Atom Interferometry, Course 188
(IOS Press, 2014); arXiv:1402.0963