Measurement and extinction of vector light shifts using interferometry of spinor condensates

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a high-precision interferometric method to measure and suppress vector light shifts in ultracold atom traps, enhancing the accuracy of optical trapping for quantum metrology.

Contribution

It introduces a differential Ramsey interferometry technique to quantify and reduce vector light shifts in spinor condensates, improving control over optical trapping fields.

Findings

Achieved suppression of vector light shift to 2.1(8)×10⁻⁴ of maximum value.

Demonstrated in-vacuo interferometric polarimetry of dipole trapping light.

Provided a method adaptable for measuring vector shifts from various lasers.

Abstract

We use differential Ramsey interferometry of ultracold atoms to characterize the vector light shift (VLS) from a far-off resonance optical dipole trap at $\lambda = 1064\,\mathrm{nm}$. The VLS manifests as a `fictitious' magnetic field, which we perceive as a change in the Larmor frequency of two spinor condensates exposed to different intensities of elliptically polarized light. We use our measurement scheme to diagnose the light-induced magnetic field and suppress it to $2.1(8)\times10^{-4}$ of its maximum value, by making the trapping light linearly polarized with a quarter-wave plate in each beam. Our sensitive measurement of the VLS-induced field demonstrates high-precision, in-vacuo interferometric polarimetry of dipole trapping light and can be adapted to measure vector shifts from other lasers, advancing the application of optically trapped atoms to precision metrology.