Phase and intensity control of lasers for atom interferometry

Abstract

Atom interferometry is a highly versatile experimental technique for precision measurement, with applications in inertial sensing and tests of fundamental physics. Such interferometers rely on high fidelity transfer of atoms between internal states, which can be challenging when working with thermal atom clouds, where a range of resonance frequencies exists. Inhomogeneities in the spatial intensity distribution of the manipulation lasers can also give rise to a range of coupling strengths; both of these effects serve to reduce the fidelity of coherent manipulation operations.

Composite pulses offer one route to high fidelity coherent manipulations. In this thesis we investigate the performance of composite pulses in a thermal cloud of Rubidium 85. We find remarkable agreement between theory and experimental investigation of composite inversion pulses, and build on this to model the performance of such pulses in atom interferometers. We also find excellent agreement between our model and the first experimental demonstration of an application of interferometry in the cooling of atoms; this is the first step towards implementing this cooling method in complex structures like molecules.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Timothy Freegarde: orcid.org/0000-0002-0680-1330

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