Trapped atom interferometry using Bloch oscillations in optical lattices


  Chen Avinadav [1,2]  ,  Dimitry Yankelev [1,2]  ,  Nir Davidson [1]  ,  Ofer Firstenberg [1]  
[1] Weizmann Institute of Science
[2] Rafael Advanced Defense Systems

Light-pulse atom interferometry is an extremely successful tool in measuring forces and accelerations on neutral atoms, reaching sensitivities of up to 10^-10 m/s^2 in state-of-the-art experiments. Their phase shift, and thus the sensitivity, depends quadratically on the interrogation time of the atoms, which for freely-falling atoms is bounded simply by the dimensions of the apparatus. In this work we analyze the application of Bloch oscillations in an optical lattice as a trapping mechanism for atom interferometers, in an effort to increase their interrogation time without the penalty of increased apparatus size. The proposed high-sensitivity interferometer with small interrogation volume would benefit measurements of Newton's gravitational constant, the equivalence principle, and short range surface interactions.