T^3-Stern-Gerlach Matter-Wave Interferometer

by Mr. Omer Amit

Ben-Gurion University Of The Negev

at Quantum optics seminar

Wed, 07 Oct 2020, 15:00
Sacta-Rashi Building for Physics (54), room 207

Abstract

NOTE: The seminar will be given via zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89419312835
The Stern-Gerlach (SG) effect of 1922 is a paradigm of quantum mechanics and allows an illuminating glimpse into the inner workings of this theory. Moreover, it arguably marks the birth of atom interferometry. Indeed, the splitting of an atomic beam by a magnetic field gradient served as the starting point for David Bohm and Eugene Paul Wigner in their discussion of the coherence in a SG interferometer (SGI). We report on the successful implementation of an SGI utilizing the strong and accurate magnetic field gradients provided by the currents in the wires of an atom chip. Our SGI is unique in three aspects: (i) Although the gradient fields act on the atom continuously during its flight through the interferometer, as in the Humpty-Dumpty configuration, we obtain a remarkably high contrast. (ii) The observed phase shift scales with the cube of the time the atom spends in the SGI, and thus represents the first interferometric measurement of the Kennard phase predicted in 1927. (iii) The lack of light pulses to split and recombine the beams in combination with the Kennard phase makes our interferometer a perfect probe for magnetic as well as other properties of surfaces. For further details, see our work in [1].
[1] O. Amit et al., T^3 Stern-Gerlach matter-wave interferometer, Physical Review Letters 123, 083601 (2019).

Created on 01-10-2020 by Folman, Ron (folman)
Updaded on 01-10-2020 by Folman, Ron (folman)