Stern-Gerlach interferometry in three dimensions: the role of transverse fields

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how transverse fields affect the sensitivity and precision of Stern-Gerlach Interferometers, especially with ultracold Rb Rydberg atoms, highlighting implementation-dependent fringe visibility.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the impact of transverse fields varies across different SGI implementations, influencing their fringe visibility and measurement precision.

Findings

Transverse fields unavoidably accompany static field gradients.

Certain SGI implementations are more resilient to transverse field effects.

Transverse fields can significantly limit the precision of SGI measurements.

Abstract

We show that superficially similar implementations of Stern-Gerlach Interferometers (SGIs) are expected to differ dramatically in their sensitivity to fields transverse to the primary acceleration direction. These transverse fields unavoidably accompany any static magnetic or electric field gradients, and have been shown by Comparat [Phys. Rev. A 101, 023606 (2020)] to limit the precision application of SGIs. As a concrete example, we consider SGIs with ultracold Rb Rydberg atoms accelerated by spatially-varying electric fields. We find that the deleterious effect of transverse fields imply that only some implementations (sequences of field gradients, internal state swaps, and so-on) may exhibit fringes with high visibility.