2025/07/30 by Junca, Joseph, Kitching, John, McGehee, William · 1 citation
#Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2507.23052
Wavefront distortions are a leading source of systematic uncertainty in light-pulse atom interferom- etry, limiting absolute measurements of gravitational acceleration at the 30 nm/s2 level. Here, we demonstrate in situ spatially resolved measurement of the interferometer phase in a Mach-Zehnder atom interferometer as a tool to characterize and correct wavefront bias. By introducing controllable curvature of the Raman light using an adjustable collimation retro-reflector, we show that the bias due to parabolic wavefront curvature can be measured with 1 mrad uncertainty and that finite-size corrections impact the measured phase curvature. This measurement process could be adopted in optimized atom interferometer gravimeters to reduce wavefront bias uncertainty below the nm/s2 level.