Enhancing the area of a Raman atom interferometer using a versatile double-diffraction technique

Phys Rev Lett. 2009 Aug 21;103(8):080405. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.080405. Epub 2009 Aug 21.

Abstract

In this Letter, we demonstrate a new scheme for Raman transitions which realize a symmetric momentum-space splitting of 4 Planck's constant k, deflecting the atomic wave packets into the same internal state. Combining the advantages of Raman and Bragg diffraction, we achieve a three pulse state labeled an interferometer, intrinsically insensitive to the main systematics and applicable to all kinds of atomic sources. This splitting scheme can be extended to 4N Planck's constant k momentum transfer by a multipulse sequence and is implemented on a 8 Planck's constant k interferometer. We demonstrate the area enhancement by measuring inertial forces.