Matterwave interferometric velocimetry of cold Rb atoms. Issue 5 (30th March 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Carey, Max; Belal, Mohammad; Himsworth, Matthew; Bateman, James; Freegarde, Tim
• Is Part Of: Journal of modern optics. Volume 65:Issue 5/6(2018)
• Page Start: 657
• Page End: 666
• Publication Date: 2018-03-30
• Subjects: Velocity measurement -- atom interferometry -- cold atoms -- laser cooling -- ion traps; Optics -- Periodicals; 535
• DOI: 10.1080/09500340.2017.1397222
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0950-0340

Abstract

Abstract : We consider the matterwave interferometric measurement of atomic velocities, which forms a building block for all matterwave inertial measurements. A theoretical analysis, addressing both the laboratory and atomic frames and accounting for residual Doppler sensitivity in the beamsplitter and recombiner pulses, is followed by an experimental demonstration, with measurements of the velocity distribution within a 20 μ K cloud of rubidium atoms. Our experiments use Raman transitions between the long-lived ground hyperfine states, and allow quadrature measurements that yield the full complex interferometer signal and hence discriminate between positive and negative velocities. The technique is most suitable for measurement of colder samples.