dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaHigh precision atom interferometry in a microgravity environment
| Authors | Tycho Sleator, Paul R. Berman, Boris Dubetsky |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/9905047 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/9905047 |
Abstract
We propose a set of experiments in which Ramsey-fringe techniques are tailored to probe transitions originating and terminating on the same ground state level. When pulses of resonant radiation, separated by a time delay $% T, $ interact with atoms, it is possible to produce Ramsey fringes having widths of order 1/T. If each pulse contains two counterpropagating travelling wave modes, the atomic wave function is split into two or more components having different center-of-mass momenta. Matter-wave interference of these components leads to atomic gratings, which have been observed in both spatially separated fields and time separated fields. Time-dependent signals can be transformed into frequency dependent signals, leading to ground state Ramsey fringes (GSRF). The signals can be used to probe many problems of fundamental importance: a precise measurement of the earth gravitational acceleration $g$ and residual gravity in a microgravity environment with an accuracy $6 10^{-9}g;$ the rotation rate measurement with an accuracy of 6 10^{-3} deg/h; the recoil frequency measurement. Since only transitions originating and terminating on the same ground state are involved, frequency measurements can be carried out using lasers phase-locked by quartz oscillators having relatively low frequency. Our technique may allow one to increase the precision by a factor of 100 (the rf- to quartz oscillator frequencies ratio) over previous experiments based on Raman-Ramsey fringes or reduce on the same factor requirements for frequency stabilization.
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"abstract": "We propose a set of experiments in which Ramsey-fringe techniques are\ntailored to probe transitions originating and terminating on the same ground\nstate level. When pulses of resonant radiation, separated by a time delay $% T,\n$ interact with atoms, it is possible to produce Ramsey fringes having widths\nof order 1/T. If each pulse contains two counterpropagating travelling wave\nmodes, the atomic wave function is split into two or more components having\ndifferent center-of-mass momenta. Matter-wave interference of these components\nleads to atomic gratings, which have been observed in both spatially separated\nfields and time separated fields. Time-dependent signals can be transformed\ninto frequency dependent signals, leading to ground state Ramsey fringes\n(GSRF). The signals can be used to probe many problems of fundamental\nimportance: a precise measurement of the earth gravitational acceleration $g$\nand residual gravity in a microgravity environment with an accuracy $6\n10^{-9}g;$ the rotation rate measurement with an accuracy of 6 10^{-3} deg/h;\nthe recoil frequency measurement.\n Since only transitions originating and terminating on the same ground state\nare involved, frequency measurements can be carried out using lasers\nphase-locked by quartz oscillators having relatively low frequency. Our\ntechnique may allow one to increase the precision by a factor of 100 (the rf-\nto quartz oscillator frequencies ratio) over previous experiments based on\nRaman-Ramsey fringes or reduce on the same factor requirements for frequency\nstabilization.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/9905047",
"authors": [
"Tycho Sleator",
"Paul R. Berman",
"Boris Dubetsky"
],
"categories": [
"physics.atom-ph"
],
"title": "High precision atom interferometry in a microgravity environment",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/9905047"
},
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