Velocimetry of cold atoms by matter-wave interferometry

Carey, Max; Saywell, Jack; Elcock, David; Belal, Mohammad; Freegarde, Tim. 2019 Velocimetry of cold atoms by matter-wave interferometry. Physical Review A, 99 (2). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.99.023631

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Abstract/Summary

We present an elegant application of matter-wave interferometry to the velocimetry of cold atoms whereby, in analogy to Fourier transform spectroscopy, the one-dimensional velocity distribution is manifest in the frequency domain of the interferometer output. By using stimulated Raman transitions between hyperfine ground states to perform a three-pulse interferometer sequence, we have measured the velocity distributions of clouds of freely expanding 85Rb atoms with temperatures of 34 and 18μK. Quadrature measurement of the interferometer output as a function of the temporal asymmetry yields velocity distributions with excellent fidelity. Our technique, which is particularly suited to ultracold samples, compares favorably with conventional Doppler and time-of-flight techniques, and it reveals artefacts in standard Raman Doppler methods. The technique is related to, and provides a conceptual foundation of, interferometric matter-wave accelerometry, gravimetry, and rotation sensing.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.99.023631
ISSN:	2469-9926
Date made live:	11 Nov 2019 12:56 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/525776

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