Detection of Applied and Ambient Forces with a Matterwave Magnetic-Gradiometer

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates an atom interferometer using Bose-Einstein condensates to measure small magnetic and inertial forces, aiding calibration and error reduction in precision devices.

Contribution

It introduces a matterwave magnetic gradiometer with composite optical pulses in a Mach-Zehnder setup for sensitive force detection.

Findings

Measured residual magnetic field gradient of 15±2 mG/cm

Detected inertial acceleration of 0.08±0.02 m/s²

Showed potential for calibration of precision measurement devices

Abstract

An atom interferometer using a Bose-Einstein condensate of $^{87}$Rb atoms is utilized for the measurement of magnetic field gradients. Composite optical pulses are used to construct a spatially symmetric Mach-Zehnder geometry. Using a biased interferometer we demonstrate the ability to measure small residual forces in our system at the position of the atoms. These are a residual magnetic field gradient of 15$\pm$2 mG/cm and and an inertial acceleration of 0.08$\pm$0.02 m/s$^2$. Our method has important applications in the calibration of precision measurement devices and the reduction of systematic errors.