Ramsey interferometry with an atom laser

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a high-visibility Ramsey interferometer using a pulsed atom laser from a Bose-Einstein condensate, highlighting its potential for quantum state manipulation and precision measurements.

Contribution

It introduces a free-space atom interferometer with a pulsed atom laser on a magnetically insensitive transition, achieving near-perfect fringe visibility and analyzing phase sensitivity.

Findings

Observed Ramsey fringes with nearly 100% visibility

Analyzed phase sensitivity and current limits

System suitable for generating squeezed atomic states

Abstract

We present results on a free-space atom interferometer operating on the first order magnetically insensitive |F=1,mF=0> -> |F=2,mF=0> transition of Bose-condensed 87Rb atoms. A pulsed atom laser is output-coupled from a Bose-Einstein condensate and propagates through a sequence of two internal state beam splitters, realized via coherent Raman transitions between the two interfering states. We observe Ramsey fringes with a visibility close to 100% and determine the current and the potentially achievable interferometric phase sensitivity. This system is well suited to testing recent proposals for generating and detecting squeezed atomic states.