Off-resonant Raman transitions impact in an atom interferometer

TL;DR

This paper investigates how off-resonant Raman transitions cause systematic phase shifts in atom interferometers, affecting their precision in measurements like gravimetry and gyroscopy, and emphasizes the need to account for these effects.

Contribution

It provides experimental analysis of off-resonant light shifts in atom interferometers and highlights their significance for high-precision measurements.

Findings

Off-resonant Raman transitions induce measurable phase shifts.

Systematic errors from these shifts can affect measurement accuracy.

Accounting for these effects improves interferometer performance.

Abstract

We study the influence of off-resonant two photon transitions on high precision measurements with atom interferometers based on stimulated Raman transitions. These resonances induce a two photon light shift on the resonant Raman condition. The impact of this effect is investigated in two highly sensitive experiments: a gravimeter and a gyroscope-accelerometer. We show that it can lead to significant systematic phase shifts, which have to be taken into account in order to achieve best performances in term of accuracy and stability.