Abstract
We are currently constructing a Mach-Zehnder type atom interferometer for metastable helium. The atom beam is prepared in a setup that consists of four laser cooling sections and a pair of collimating apertures. The resulting beam is slow (v = 248 m/s), monochromatic (s v/v = 1.5 × 10-2 rms) and spin polarized, with a transverse rms velocity spread of less than 9 mm/s. Using coherent Bragg scattering on a standing light wave, we are able to deflect the atom beam to the eighth diffraction order, which gives a separation of 6 mrad. Using the Pendellösung oscillation, the fraction of the deflected atoms can be tuned, making it possible to construct 50-50 beamsplitters and a 100% reflector. The total length of the interferometer will be 2m with a maximum separation of the atom beams of 6mm. The large separation of the atom beams makes it possible to induce a phase shift on only one of the beams. Currently, we are inverstigating the diffraction of atoms on a standing light wave in the s^+/s^- configuration. Normal Bragg scattering is not possible in this configuration, but adding a transverse magnetic field allows for a magnetically tunable, large-angle beamsplitter based on "quasi-Bragg scattering".
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 35th Meeting of the Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (DAMOP04), May 25-29, 2004, Tuscon, Arizona, U.S.A. |
| Publication status | Published - 2004 |