Bragg-diffraction-induced imperfections of the signal in retroreflective atom interferometers

TL;DR

This paper investigates how imperfections in Bragg diffraction affect the signal quality in retroreflective atom interferometers, focusing on population loss, spurious paths, and phase errors, with implications for precision measurements.

Contribution

It provides a detailed numerical analysis of diffraction-induced imperfections and compares single and double Bragg diffraction setups in atom interferometers.

Findings

Higher-order diffraction causes population loss and spurious paths.

Double Bragg diffraction exhibits phase-induced beating effects.

Adding outer port populations can mitigate diffraction phase issues.

Abstract

We present a detailed study of the effects of imperfect atom-optical manipulation in Bragg-based light-pulse atom interferometers. Off-resonant higher-order diffraction leads to population loss, spurious interferometer paths, and diffraction phases. In a path-dependent formalism, we study numerically various effects and analyze the interference signal caused by an external phase or gravity. We compare first-order single and double Bragg diffraction in retroreflective setups. In double Bragg diffraction, phase imperfections lead to a beating due to three-path interference. Some effects of diffraction phases can be avoided by adding the population of the outer exit ports of double diffraction.