Collisional decoherence in trapped atom interferometers that use non-degenerate sources

Abstract

The coherence time, and thus sensitivity, of trapped atom interferometers that use non-degenerate gasses are limited by the collisions between the atoms. An analytic model that describes the effects of collisions between atoms in an interferometer is developed. It is then applied to an interferometer using a harmonically trapped non-degenerate atomic gas that is manipulated with a single set of standing wave laser pulses. The model is used to find the optimal operating conditions of the interferometer and direct Monte-Carlo simulation of the interferometer is used to verify the analytic model.

(23 pages, 5 figures)

References in corpus (4)

• Matter-wave interferometry in a double well on an atom chip
• Confinement effects in a guided-wave interferometer with millimeter-scale arm separation
• Measurement of the ac Stark shift with a guided matter-wave interferometer
• Theoretical analysis of a single and double reflection atom interferometer in a weakly-confining magnetic trap