dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaNanometer scale period sinusoidal atom gratings produced by a Stern-Gerlach beam splitter
| Authors | B. Dubetsky, G. Raithel |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0206029 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0206029 |
Abstract
An atom interferometer based on a Stern-Gerlach beam splitter is proposed. Atom scattering from a combination of magnetic quadrupole and homogeneous magnetic fields is considered. Using Raman transitions, atoms are coherently excited into and de-excited from sublevels having nonzero magnetic quantum numbers. The spatial regions in which the atoms are in such sublevels are small and have magnetic fields designed to have constant gradients. Therefore, the atoms experience position-independent accelerations, and the aberration of the coherently separated and recombined atomic beams remains small. We find that because of these properties it is possible to envision an apparatus producing atomic density gratings with nm-scale periods and large contrasts over 10-100 $\mu $m. We use a new method of describing the atomic interaction with a pulsed spatially homogeneous field. In our detailed analysis, we calculate corrections caused by the non-linear part of the potential and the finite value of the de-Broglie wave length. The chromatic aberration and the effects of an angular beam divergence are analyzed, and optimal conditions for an experimental demonstration of the technique are identified.%The $lin\bot %lin$ combination of resonant co-propagating traveling waves splits %atoms between different Zeeman sublevels. %For a given desirable atom %grating period and length, characteristics of the atomic beam and %magnetic field are found from requirements that corrections remain %below $10%.$
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"abstract": "An atom interferometer based on a Stern-Gerlach beam splitter is proposed.\nAtom scattering from a combination of magnetic quadrupole and homogeneous\nmagnetic fields is considered. Using Raman transitions, atoms are coherently\nexcited into and de-excited from sublevels having nonzero magnetic quantum\nnumbers. The spatial regions in which the atoms are in such sublevels are small\nand have magnetic fields designed to have constant gradients. Therefore, the\natoms experience position-independent accelerations, and the aberration of the\ncoherently separated and recombined atomic beams remains small. We find that\nbecause of these properties it is possible to envision an apparatus producing\natomic density gratings with nm-scale periods and large contrasts over 10-100\n$\\mu $m. We use a new method of describing the atomic interaction with a pulsed\nspatially homogeneous field. In our detailed analysis, we calculate corrections\ncaused by the non-linear part of the potential and the finite value of the\nde-Broglie wave length. The chromatic aberration and the effects of an angular\nbeam divergence are analyzed, and optimal conditions for an experimental\ndemonstration of the technique are identified.%The $lin\\bot %lin$ combination\nof resonant co-propagating traveling waves splits %atoms between different\nZeeman sublevels. %For a given desirable atom %grating period and length,\ncharacteristics of the atomic beam and %magnetic field are found from\nrequirements that corrections remain %below $10%.$",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0206029",
"authors": [
"B. Dubetsky",
"G. Raithel"
],
"categories": [
"physics.atom-ph"
],
"title": "Nanometer scale period sinusoidal atom gratings produced by a Stern-Gerlach beam splitter",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0206029"
},
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