A Bose-condensed, simultaneous dual-species Mach-Zehnder atom interferometer

Abstract

This paper presents the first realization of a simultaneous 87Rb-85Rb Mach-Zehnder atom interferometer with Bose-condensed atoms. A number of ambitious proposals for precise terrestrial and space based tests of the weak equivalence principle rely on such a system. This implementation utilizes hybrid magnetic-optical trapping to produce spatially overlapped condensates with a repetition rate of 20 s. A horizontal optical waveguide with co-linear Bragg beamsplitters and mirrors is used to simultaneously address both isotopes in the interferometer. We observe a non–linear phase shift on a non-interacting 85Rb interferometer as a function of interferometer time, T, which we show arises from inter-isotope scattering with the co-incident 85Rb interferometer. A discussion of implications for future experiments is given.

Publication
New Journal of Physics, (16), 7, pp. 073035, https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/16/7/073035

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