Atom interferometry with coherent enhancement of Bragg pulse sequences

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates advanced atom interferometers using large-momentum-transfer Bragg pulses, achieving high momentum splitting and efficiency improvements, with detailed analysis of parasitic effects and phase shift enhancements.

Contribution

It introduces a new destructive interference mechanism to enhance beam splitter efficiency and thoroughly studies parasitic interferometers in large-momentum-transfer atom optics.

Findings

Momentum splitting up to 200 photon recoils achieved.

Efficiency of beam splitters significantly improved.

Phase shift enhancement verified experimentally.

Abstract

We report here on the realization of light-pulse atom interferometers with Large-momentum-transfer atom optics based on a sequence of Bragg transitions. We demonstrate momentum splitting up to 200 photon recoils in an ultra-cold atom interferometer. We highlight a new mechanism of destructive interference of the losses leading to a sizeable efficiency enhancement of the beam splitters. We perform a comprehensive study of parasitic interferometers due to the inherent multi-port feature of the quasi-Bragg pulses. Finally, we experimentally verify the phase shift enhancement and characterize the interferometer visibility loss.