Bloch oscillations in atom interferometry

TL;DR

This paper discusses using Bloch oscillations in atom interferometry to achieve highly precise measurements of atomic recoil velocity, enabling an accurate determination of the fine structure constant.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed method employing Bloch oscillations for high-precision atom recoil measurements in interferometry.

Findings

Achieved recoil velocity measurement accuracy of 1.3×10⁻⁹.

Enabled the most precise determination of the fine structure constant independent of QED.

Demonstrated the effectiveness of Bloch oscillations in enhancing measurement sensitivity.

Abstract

In Paris, we are using an atom interferometer to precisely measure the recoil velocity of an atom that absorbs a photon. In order to reach a high sensitivity, many recoils are transferred to atoms using the Bloch oscillations technique. In this lecture, I will present in details this technique and its application to high precision measurement. I will especially describe in details how this method allows us to perform an atom recoil measurement at the level of $1.3 \times 10^{-9}$. This measurement is used in the most precise determination of the fine structure constant that is independent of quantum electrodynamics.