First Measurements of the Index of Refraction of Gases for Lithium Atomic Waves

In this paper, we show that an atom interferometer inertial sensor, when associated to the auxiliary measurement of external vibrations, can be operated beyond its linear range and still keep a high acceleration sensitivity. We propose and compare two measurement procedures (fringe fitting and nonlinear lock) that can be used to extract the mean phase of the interferometer when the interferometer phase fluctuations exceed 2π. Despite operating in the urban environment of inner Paris without any vibration isolation, the use of a low noise seismometer for the measurement of ground vibrations allows our atom gravimeter to reach at night a sensitivity as good as 5.5×10 −8 g at 1 s. Robustness of the measurement to large vibration noise is also demonstrated by the ability of our gravimeter to operate during an earthquake with excellent sensitivity. Our high repetition rate allows for recovering the true low frequency seismic vibrations, ensuring proper averaging.Such techniques open new perspectives for applications in other fields, such as navigation and geophysics. * Electronic address: franck.pereira@obspm.fr

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“…Applications of such interferometers cover numerous fields, from fundamental physics [3,4,5,6,7] to navigation and geophysics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Operating an atom interferometer beyond its linear range

Merlet¹,

Gouët²,

Bodart³

et al. 2009

Metrologia

121

120

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“…While the real and imaginary parts of the refractive index can in some cases be measured accurately [15], it is useful to define the quantity ρ as the ratio of the phase shift to the attenuation,…”

Section: A the Refractive Indexmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[14]. More recently, the refractive index of noble gases for lithium matter waves was measured [15] and investigated theoretically [16,17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Index of refraction of molecular nitrogen for sodium matter waves

2013

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We calculate the index of refraction of sodium matter waves propagating through a gas of nitrogen molecules. We use a recent ab initio potential for the ground state of the NaN 2 van der Waals complex to perform quantal close-coupling calculations and compute the index of refraction as a function of the projectile velocity. We obtain good agreement with the available experimental data. We show that the refractive index contains glory oscillations but that they are damped by the averaging over the thermal motion of the N 2 molecules. These oscillations appear at lower temperatures and projectile velocity. We also investigate the behavior of the refractive index at low temperature and low projectile velocity to show its dependence on the rotational state of N 2 and discuss the advantage of using diatomic molecules as projectiles.

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“…A broad overview of accomplishments in matter wave interferometry was presented by Berman over a decade ago [1]. To implement such an interferometer, optical elements based both on the mechanical forces of light [2,3,4,5,6,7] and nanofabricated structures [8,9,10] have been investigated. Right from the outset, light-based atom interferometry became a technique of choice for high precision measurements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atom interferometry based on light pulses: Application to the high precision measurement of the ratio h/m and the determination of the fine structure constant

Cadoret

Mirandes

Cladé

et al. 2009

Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top.

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Abstract. In this paper we present a short overview of atom interferometry based on light pulses. We discuss different implementations and their applications for high precision measurements. We will focus on the determination of the ratio h/m of the Planck constant to an atomic mass. The measurement of this quantity is performed by combining Bloch oscillations of atoms in a moving optical lattice with a Ramsey-Bordé interferometer.

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First Measurements of the Index of Refraction of Gases for Lithium Atomic Waves

Cited by 21 publications

References 23 publications

Operating an atom interferometer beyond its linear range

Operating an atom interferometer beyond its linear range

Index of refraction of molecular nitrogen for sodium matter waves

Atom interferometry based on light pulses: Application to the high precision measurement of the ratio h/m and the determination of the fine structure constant

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