Atom-Chip Fountain Gravimeter

Phys Rev Lett. 2016 Nov 11;117(20):203003. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.203003. Epub 2016 Nov 11.

Abstract

We demonstrate a quantum gravimeter by combining the advantages of an atom chip for the generation, delta-kick collimation, and coherent manipulation of freely falling Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) with an innovative launch mechanism based on Bloch oscillations and double Bragg diffraction. Our high-contrast BEC interferometer realizes tens of milliseconds of free fall in a volume as little as a one centimeter cube and paves the way for measurements with sub-μGal accuracies in miniaturized, robust devices.