Tractor Atom Interferometry

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel tractor atom interferometer design that uses 3D confinement and programmed paths to improve coherence and robustness, with simulations demonstrating its potential for sensitive gravimetry.

Contribution

The paper presents the concept and simulation validation of a tractor atom interferometer with 3D confinement and programmable paths, enhancing coherence and robustness over existing designs.

Findings

Uninterrupted 3D confinement prevents wavepacket dispersion loss.

Spinor-TAI offers more robust beam splitters against non-adiabatic effects.

Semiclassical phase calculations agree with quantum simulations.

Abstract

We propose a tractor atom interferometer (TAI) based on three-dimensional (3D) confinement and transport of split atomic wavefunction components in potential wells that follow programmed paths. The paths are programmed to split and recombine atomic wavefunctions at well-defined space-time points, guaranteeing closure of the interferometer. Uninterrupted 3D confinement of the interfering wavefunction components in the tractor wells eliminates coherence loss due to wavepacket dispersion. Using Crank-Nicolson simulation of the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation, we compute the quantum evolution of scalar and spinor wavefunctions in several TAI sample scenarios. The interferometric phases extracted from the wavefunctions allow us to quantify gravimeter sensitivity, for the TAI scenarios studied. We show that spinor-TAI supports matter-wave beam splitters that are more robust against non-adiabatic effects than their scalar-TAI counterparts. We confirm the validity of semiclassical path-integral phases taken along the programmed paths of the TAI. Aspects for future experimental realizations of TAI are discussed.