Dichroic mirror pulses for optimized higher-order atomic Bragg diffraction

TL;DR

This paper introduces dichroic mirror pulses for atom interferometry, enhancing signal clarity by selectively reflecting desired paths and transmitting parasitic ones, thus improving the precision of large-momentum transfer techniques.

Contribution

The authors experimentally realize dichroic mirror pulses for atom interferometry, demonstrating scalability to higher-order Bragg diffraction and robustness against initial momentum spread.

Findings

Effective isolation of desired interferometric signals from parasitic paths.

Scalability of dichroic mirror pulses to higher-order Bragg diffraction.

Robustness against initial momentum spread in atom interferometry.

Abstract

Increasing the sensitivity of light-pulse atom interferometers progressively relies on large-momentum transfer techniques. Precise control of such methods is imperative to exploit the full capabilities of these quantum sensors. One key element is the mitigation of deleterious effects such as parasitic paths deteriorating the interferometric signal. In this Letter, we present the experimental realization of dichroic mirror pulses for atom interferometry, its scalability to higher-order Bragg diffraction, and its robustness against initial momentum spread. Our approach selectively reflects resonant atom paths into the detected interferometer output, ensuring that these contribute to the signal with intent. Simultaneously, parasitic paths are efficiently transmitted by the mirror and not directed to the relevant interferometer outputs. This method effectively isolates the desired interferometric signal from noise induced by unwanted paths. It can be readily applied to existing setups capable of higher-order Bragg diffraction.