Ramsey interferometry with arbitrary coherent-population-trapping pulse sequence

Abstract

Coherent population trapping (CPT) is a multi-level quantum coherence phenomenon of promising applications in atomic clocks and magnetometers. Particularly, multi-pulse CPT-Ramsey interferometry is a powerful tool for improving the performance of CPT atomic clocks. Most studies on multi-pulse CPT-Ramsey interferometry consider periodic pulse sequence and time-independent detuning. However, to further improve the accuracy and precision, one may modify the spectrum symmetry which involves pulse sequence with time-dependent detuning or phase shift. Here, we theoretically analyze the multi-pulse CPT-Ramsey interferometry under arbitrary pulse sequences of time-dependent detuning and obtain a general analytical formula. Using our formula, we analyze the popular CPT-Ramsey interferometry schemes such as two-pulse symmetric and antisymmetric spectroscopy, and multi-pulse symmetric and antisymmetric spectroscopy. Moreover, we quantitatively obtain the influences of pulse width, pulse period, pulse number, and Rabi frequency under periodic pulses. Our theoretical results can guide the experimental design to improve the performance of atomic clocks via multi-pulse CPT-Ramsey interferometry.