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Atom Michelson interferometer on a chip using a Bose-Einstein condensate
Ying-Ju Wang1, Dana Z Anderson, Victor M Bright
1Department of Physics, University of Colorado, and JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0440, USA.
Abstract:
An atom Michelson interferometer is implemented on an "atom chip." The chip uses lithographically patterned conductors and external magnetic fields to produce and guide a Bose-Einstein condensate. Splitting, reflecting, and recombining of condensate atoms are achieved by a standing-wave light field having a wave vector aligned along the atom waveguide. A differential phase shift between the two arms of the interferometer is introduced by either a magnetic-field gradient or with an initial condensate velocity. Interference contrast is still observable at 20% with an atom propagation time of 10 ms.