Frequency comb atom interferometry

Abstract

We have implemented of a light pulse atom interferometer based on the diffraction of free-falling atoms of Rubidium by a picosecond frequency-comb laser. We have studied the impact of the pulses’ length as well as of the interrogation time on the contrast of the fringes. Our data are well reproduce by a theoretical model based on the effective coupling which depend on the overlap between the pulses and the atoms. This technique, which we demonstrated in the visible spectrum on Rb atoms, paves the way for extending light-pulse interferometry to other spectral regions (deep-UV to X-UV) and therefore to new species, since one can benefit from the high peak intensity of the ultrashort pulses which makes nonlinear frequency conversion in crystals and gas targets more efficient.