Bi-chromatic adiabatic shells for atom interferometry

Abstract

We demonstrate bi-chromatic adiabatic magnetic shell traps as a novel tool for matterwave interferometry. Using two strong RF fields, we dress the $|1,-1\rangle $ and $ |2,1\rangle$ states of Rubidium Bose-Einstein Condensates thus creating two independently controllable shell traps. This allows us to match the two traps and, using microwave pulses, create a state-dependent clock-type interferometer. Given the low horizontal confinement of the interferometer, the atoms can be made to spread out thus yielding a 2D sheet, which could be used in a direct imaging interferometer. This interferometer can be sensitive to spatially varying electric or magnetic fields, which could be DC, AC, RF fields or microwaves, or even local variations in gravity. We demonstrate that the trap-matching afforded by the independent control of the shell traps allows long coherence times which will result in highly sensitive imaging matterwave interferometers.