Work

Atom-chip interferometer

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: We have realized an interferometer using a thermal cloud of magnetically trapped rubidium 87 atoms on a chip. The interferometer resembles a Ramsey interferometer with a state selective spatial splitting of the two internal states as proposed in [M. Ammar, and al., Phys. Rev. A, 91, 053623]. The splitting is effected by microwave fields from two on-chip waveguides while the atoms remain magnetically trapped. The inferred maximum separation is $1.2\pm 0.1~μ$m. We observe interference fringes with a contrast around 8\% limited by velocity difference of the two interferometer states when we close the interferometer. We develop a model describing this contrast decay.

Source: Physical Review A

DOI: 10.1103/vq33-77zc

Authors: B. Wirtschafter, C. I. Westbrook, M. Dupont-Nivet

Institutions: Thales (France), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Paris-Saclay, Laboratoire Charles Fabry

Language: English

Topic: Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates

Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: European Defence Fund, Agence Nationale de la Recherche

Awards: Inertial Navigation with Confined Cold Atomss, G1249656489