Twin-lattice atom interferometry.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 33953188.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-021-22823-8 and PMC identifier 8100166.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Inertial sensors based on cold atoms have great potential for navigation, geodesy, or fundamental physics. Similar to the Sagnac effect, their sensitivity increases with the space-time area enclosed by the interferometer. Here, we introduce twin-lattice atom interferometry exploiting Bose-Einstein condensates of rubidium-87. Our method provides symmetric momentum transfer and large areas offering a perspective for future palm-sized sensor heads with sensitivities on par with present meter-scale Sagnac devices. Our theoretical model of the impact of beam splitters on the spatial coherence is highly instrumental for designing future sensors.