Toward a test of angular-momentum coherence in a twin-atom interferometer. (18th June 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: de Carvalho, Carlos R.; Jalbert, Ginette; Impens, François; Robert, J.; Medina, Aline; Zappa, F.; de Castro Faria, N. V.
• Is Part Of: Europhysics letters. Volume 110:Number 5(2015:Jun.)
• Publication Date: 2015-06-18
• Subjects: 03.65.Ud -- 03.75.Dg; Physics -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 530.05
• DOI: 10.1209/0295-5075/110/50001
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0295-5075

Abstract

Abstract: We present a scheme well suited to investigate quantitatively the angular-momentum coherence of molecular fragments. Assuming that the dissociated molecule has a null total angular-momentum, we investigate the propagation of the corresponding atomic fragments in the apparatus. We show that the envisioned interferometer enables one to distinguish unambiguously a spin-coherent from a spin-incoherent dissociation, as well as to estimate the purity of the angular-momentum density matrix associated with the fragments. This setup, which may be seen as an atomic analogue of a twin-photon interferometer, can be used to investigate the suitability of molecule dissociation processes —such as the metastable hydrogen atoms H(2 2 S )-H(2 2 S ) dissociation— for coherent twin-atom optics.