Atom Interferometry with the Rb Blue Transitions

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel atom interferometry scheme using the $^{87}$Rb blue transitions at 420-422 nm, achieving higher phase sensitivity and stability for gravity measurements compared to traditional infrared methods.

Contribution

The authors develop a new laser system and demonstrate enhanced interferometer sensitivity using blue transitions, offering improvements over infrared-based techniques.

Findings

Interferometer phase sensitivity increased by a factor of ~2 using blue transitions.

Achieved differential acceleration measurement stability of 1×10⁻⁸ g at 1 s.

Demonstrated long-term stability of 2×10⁻¹⁰ g after 2000 s of integration.

Abstract

We demonstrate a novel scheme for Raman-pulse and Bragg-pulse atom interferometry based on the $5\mathrm{S} - 6\mathrm{P}$ blue transitions of $^{87}$Rb that provides an increase by a factor $\sim 2$ of the interferometer phase due to accelerations with respect to the commonly used infrared transition at 780 nm. A narrow-linewidth laser system generating more than 1 W of light in the 420-422 nm range was developed for this purpose. Used as a cold-atom gravity gradiometer, our Raman interferometer attains a stability to differential acceleration measurements of $1\times10^{-8}$ $g$ at 1 s and $2\times 10^{-10}$ $g$ after 2000 s of integration time. When operated on first-order Bragg transitions, the interferometer shows a stability of $6\times10^{-8}$ g at 1 s, averaging to $1\times10^{-9}$ g after 2000 s of integration time. The instrument sensitivity, currently limited by the noise due to spontaneous emission, can be further improved by increasing the laser power and the detuning from the atomic resonance. The present scheme is attractive for high-precision experiments as, in particular, for the determination of the Newtonian gravitational constant.