(T^3\)-interferometer for atoms

• Published in: arXiv.org 2016-09
• Main Authors: Zimmermann, M, Efremov, M A, Roura, A, Schleich, W P, DeSavage, S A, Davis, J P, Srinivasan, A, Narducci, F A, Werner, S A, Rasel, E M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acceleration; Atomic states; Interferometers; Quantum mechanics
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1609.02337

The quantum mechanical propagator of a massive particle in a linear gravitational potential derived already in 1927 by Earle H. Kennard \cite{Kennard,Kennard2} contains a phase that scales with the third power of the time \(T\) during which the particle experiences the corresponding force. Since in conventional atom interferometers the internal atomic states are all exposed to the same acceleration \(a\), this \(T^3\)-phase cancels out and the interferometer phase scales as \(T^2\). In contrast, by applying an external magnetic field we prepare two different accelerations \(a_1\) and \(a_2\) for two internal states of the atom, which translate themselves into two different cubic phases and the resulting interferometer phase scales as \(T^3\). We present the theoretical background for, and summarize our progress towards experimentally realizing such a novel atom interferometer.