Coherent Stern–Gerlach momentum splitting on an atom chip

Shimon Machluf, Yonathan Japha and Ron Folman ()
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Shimon Machluf: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Yonathan Japha: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Ron Folman: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Nature Communications, 2013, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract In the Stern–Gerlach effect, a magnetic field gradient splits particles into spatially separated paths according to their spin projection. The idea of exploiting this effect for creating coherent momentum superpositions for matter-wave interferometry appeared shortly after its discovery, almost a century ago, but was judged to be far beyond practical reach. Here we demonstrate a viable version of this idea. Our scheme uses pulsed magnetic field gradients, generated by currents in an atom chip wire, and radio-frequency Rabi transitions between Zeeman sublevels. We transform an atomic Bose–Einstein condensate into a superposition of spatially separated propagating wavepackets and observe spatial interference fringes with a measurable phase repeatability. The method is versatile in its range of momentum transfer and the different available splitting geometries. These features make our method a good candidate for supporting a variety of future applications and fundamental studies.

Date: 2013
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms3424

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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3424

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