Jove
Visualize
Contact Us

Related Experiment Videos

Matter-wave decoherence due to a gas environment in an atom interferometer.

Hermann Uys1, John D Perreault, Alexander D Cronin

  • 1Department of Physics, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA.

Physical Review Letters
|October 26, 2005
PubMed
Summary

Scattering from background gas causes decoherence in atom interferometers for the first time. A unified theory explains decoherence from both gas particle and photon scattering, validated by experiments.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Generating Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states with squeezing and postselection.

Physical review. A·2021
Same author

Atom interferometer gyroscope with spin-dependent phase shifts induced by light near a tune-out wavelength.

Physical review letters·2015
Same author

Triple Wollaston-prism complete-Stokes imaging polarimeter.

Optics letters·2013
Same author

Measurement of a wavelength of light for which the energy shift for an atom vanishes.

Physical review letters·2013
Same author

High-order noise filtering in nontrivial quantum logic gates.

Physical review letters·2012
Same author

Spectroscopy and thermometry of drumhead modes in a mesoscopic trapped-ion crystal using entanglement.

Physical review letters·2012
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Area of Science:

  • Quantum physics
  • Atom interferometry

Background:

  • Decoherence is a critical challenge in quantum systems.
  • Scattering of photons is a known source of decoherence in atom interferometers.
  • Decoherence from background gas scattering in atom interferometers was not previously characterized.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To observe and quantify decoherence from background gas scattering in a Mach-Zehnder atom interferometer.
  • To develop and validate a unified theoretical framework for decoherence.
  • To compare decoherence mechanisms caused by background gas and scattered photons.

Main Methods:

  • Experimental observation of decoherence in a Mach-Zehnder atom interferometer.
  • Comparison of experimental results with theoretical predictions.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Systematic variation of background gas species and beam collimation.

    • Main Results:

    • Decoherence due to background gas scattering was experimentally observed for the first time.
    • A single theoretical model successfully describes decoherence from both gas particle and photon scattering.
    • Experimental data align with the predictions of the unified theory across different conditions.

    Conclusions:

    • Background gas scattering is a significant source of decoherence in atom interferometers.
    • The developed theory provides a comprehensive understanding of scattering-induced decoherence.
    • This work offers insights for improving the coherence and precision of atom interferometers.