Monolithic atom interferometry
arXiv:2307.02285 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.108.023306
Abstract
Atom and, more recently, molecule interferometers are used in fundamental research and industrial applications. Most atom interferometers rely on gratings made from laser beams, which can provide high precision but cannot reach very short wavelengths and require complex laser systems to function. Contrary to this, simple monolithic interferometers cut from single crystals offer (sub) nano-meter wavelengths with an extreme level of stability and robustness. Such devices have been conceived and demonstrated several decades ago for neutrons and electrons. Here, we propose a monolithic design for a thermal-beam molecule interferometer based on (quantum) reflection. We show, as an example, how a reflective, monolithic interferometer (Mach-Zehnder type) can be realised for a helium beam using Si(111)-H(1x1) surfaces, which have previously been demonstrated to act as very robust and stable diffractive mirrors for neutral helium atoms.
References in corpus (21)
- Atom Interferometers
- Atom chip based generation of entanglement for quantum metrology
- Measurements of Relative Phase in Binary Mixtures of Bose-Einstein Condensates
- Gravity measurements below with a transportable absolute quantum gravimeter
- AEDGE: Atomic Experiment for Dark Matter and Gravity Exploration in Space
- Test of Equivalence Principle at Level by a Dual-species Double-diffraction Raman Atom Interferometer
- A quantum sensor: simultaneous precision gravimetry and magnetic gradiometry with a Bose-Einstein condensate
- ELGAR -- a European Laboratory for Gravitation and Atom-interferometric Research
- The van der Waals Potential between Metastable Atoms and Solid Surfaces: Novel Diffraction Experiments versus Theory
- An atomically thin matter-wave beamsplitter
- Atom Interferometry in a Warm Vapor
- Quantum reflection of helium atom beams from a microstructured grating
- Probing atom-surface interactions by diffraction of Bose-Einstein condensates
- Quantum reflection of ultracold atoms from thin films, graphene, and semiconductor heterostructures
- High contrast Mach-Zehnder lithium atom interferometer in the Bragg regime
- Intermediate-range Casimir-Polder interaction probed by high-order slow atom diffraction
- Bragg diffraction of large organic molecules
- Asymptotic behaviour of multiple scattering on infinite number of parallel demi-planes
- Quantum reflection and interference of matter waves from periodically doped surfaces
- Centre line intensity of a supersonic helium beam
- Two-dimensional simulation of quantum reflection