2007/12/12 by James Stickney, James A. Stickney, Rudra Kafle +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Frequency and Time Standards #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #physics.atom-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.77.043604
25 pages, 6 figures
arxiv created 2007/12/12 · openalex publication_date 2008/04/02 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The operation of a BEC based atom interferometer, where the atoms are held in a weakly confining magnetic trap and manipulated with counterpropagating laser beams, is analyzed. A simple analytic model is developed to describe the dynamics of the interferometer. It is used to find the regions of parameter space with high and low contrast of the interference fringes for both single and double reflection interferometers. We demonstrate that for a double reflection interferometer the coherence time can be increased by shifting the recombination time. The theory is compared with recent experimental realizations of these interferometers.