Abstract
Matter-wave interference experiments enable us to study matter at its most basic, quantum level and form the basis of high-precision sensors for applications such as inertial and gravitational field sensing. Success in both of these pursuits requires the development of atom-optical elements that can manipulate matter waves at the same time as preserving their coherence and phase. Here, we present an integrated interferometer based on a simple, coherent matter-wave beam splitter constructed on an atom chip. Through the use of radio-frequency-induced adiabatic double-well potentials, we demonstrate the splitting of Bose–Einstein condensates into two clouds separated by distances ranging from 3 to 80 μm, enabling access to both tunnelling and isolated regimes. Moreover, by analysing the interference patterns formed by combining two clouds of ultracold atoms originating from a single condensate, we measure the deterministic phase evolution throughout the splitting process. We show that we can control the relative phase between the two fully separated samples and that our beam splitter is phase-preserving.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Badurek, G., Rauch, H. & Zeilinger, A. (eds) Matter Wave Interferometry (North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1988).
Berman, P. R. (ed.) Atom Interferometry (Academic, New York, 1997).
Kasevich, M. & Chu, S. Atomic interferometry using stimulated Raman transitions. Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 181 (1991).
Andrews, M. R. et al. Observation of interference between two Bose condensates. Science 275, 637–641 (1997).
Folman, R., Krüger, P., Schmiedmayer, J., Denschlag, J. & Henkel, C. Microscopic atom optics: from wires to an atom chip. Adv. At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 48, 263–356 (2002).
Cirone, M. A., Negretti, A., Calarco, T., Krüger, P. & Schmiedmayer, J. A simple quantum gate with atom chips. Eur. Phys. J. D 35, 165–171 (2005).
Müller, D., Anderson, D. Z., Grow, R. J., Schwindt, P. D. D. & Cornell, E. A. Guiding neutral atoms around curves with lithographically patterned current-carrying wires. Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 5194–5197 (1999).
Reichel, J., Hänsel, W. & Hänsch, T. W. Atomic micromanipulation with magnetic surface traps. Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 3398–3401 (1999).
Folman, R. et al. Controlling cold atoms using nanofabricated surfaces: Atom chips. Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 4749–4752 (2000).
Dekker, N. H. et al. Guiding neutral atoms on a chip. Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 1124–1127 (2000).
Brugger, K. et al. Two-wire guides and traps with vertical bias fields on an atom chip. Phys. Rev. A 72, 023607 (2005).
Krüger, P. et al. Trapping and manipulating neutral atoms with electrostatic fields. Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 233201 (2003).
Dumke, R., Müther, T., Volk, M., Ertmer, W. & Birkl, G. Interferometer-type structures for guided atoms. Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 220402 (2002).
Treutlein, P., Hommelhoff, P., Steinmetz, T., Hänsch, T. W. & Reichel, J. Coherence in microchip traps. Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 203005 (2004).
Wang, Y. -J. et al. An atom Michelson interferometer on a chip using a Bose-Einstein condensate. Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 090405 (2005).
Günther, A. et al. Diffraction of a Bose-Einstein condensate from a magnetic lattice on a micro chip. cond-mat/0504210 (2005).
Calarco, T. et al. Quantum gates with neutral atoms: Controlling collisional interactions in time-dependent traps. Phys. Rev. A 61, 022304 (2000).
Charron, E., Tiesinga, E., Mies, F. & Williams, C. Optimizing a phase gate using quantum interference. Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 077901 (2002).
Shin, Y. et al. Atom interferometry with Bose-Einstein condensates in a double-well potential. Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 050405 (2004).
Albiez, M. et al. Direct observation of tunneling and nonlinear self-trapping in a single bosonic Josephson junction. Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 010402 (2005).
Josephson, B. D. Possible new effects in superconductive tunnelling. Phys. Lett. 1, 251–253 (1962).
Zurek, W. H. Decoherence, einselection, and the quantum origins of the classical. Rev. Mod. Phys. 75, 715–776 (2003).
Kasevich, M. A. Coherence with atoms. Science 298, 1363–1368 (2002).
Cassettari, D., Hessmo, B., Folman, R., Maier, T. & Schmiedmayer, J. Beam splitter for guided atoms. Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 5483–5487 (2000).
Müller, D. et al. Waveguide atom beam splitter for laser-cooled neutral atoms. Opt. Lett. 25, 1382–1384 (2000).
Hommelhoff, P., Hänsel, W., Steinmetz, T., Hänsch, T. W. & Reichel, J. Transporting, splitting and merging of atomic ensembles in a chips trap. New J. Phys. 7, 3–20 (2005).
Shin, Y. et al. Interference of Bose-Einstein condensates split with an atom chip. Phys. Rev. A 72, 021604 (2005).
Muskat, E., Dubbers, D. & Schärpf, O. Dressed neutrons. Phys. Rev. Lett. 58, 2047–2050 (1987).
Zobay, O. & Garraway, B. M. Two-dimensional atom trapping in field-induced adiabatic potentials. Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 1195–1198 (2001).
Colombe, Y. et al. Ultracold atoms confined in rf-induced two-dimensional trapping potentials. Europhys. Lett. 67, 593–599 (2004).
Wildermuth, S. et al. Optimized magneto-optical trap for experiments with ultracold atoms near surfaces. Phys. Rev. A 69, 030901(R) (2004).
Groth, S. et al. Atom chips: Fabrication and thermal properties. Appl. Phys. Lett. 85, 2980–2982 (2004).
Krüger, P. et al. Disorder potentials near lithographically fabricated atom chip. cond-mat/0504686 (2005).
Wildermuth, S. et al. Microscopic magnetic-field imaging. Nature 435, 440 (2005).
Röhrl, A., Naraschewski, M., Schenzle, A. & Wallis, H. Transition for phase locking to the interference of independent Bose condensates: theory versus experiment. Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 4143 (1997).
Whitlock, N. K. & Bouchoule, I. Relative phase fluctuations of two coupled one-dimensional condensates. Phys. Rev. A 68, 053609 (2003).
Éstève, J. et al. Realizing a stable magnetic double-well potential on an atom chip. Eur. Phys. J. D 35, 141–146 (2005).
Giovanazzi, S., Shenoy, R., Smerzi, A. & Fantoni, S. Quantum coherent atomic tunneling between two trapped Bose-Einstein condensates. Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 4950–4953 (1997).
Acknowledgements
We thank H. Perrin and I. Lesanovsky for useful discussions. We acknowledge financial support from the European Union, contract numbers IST-2001-38863 (ACQP), MRTN-CT-2003-505032 (Atom Chips), HPRN-CT-2002-00304 (FASTNet), HPMF-CT-2002-02022, and HPRI-CT-1999-00114 (LSF) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, contract number SCHM 1599/1-1.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schumm, T., Hofferberth, S., Andersson, L. et al. Matter-wave interferometry in a double well on an atom chip. Nature Phys 1, 57–62 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys125
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys125
This article is cited by
-
Electron beams probe quantum coherence
Light: Science & Applications (2024)
-
Verification of the area law of mutual information in a quantum field simulator
Nature Physics (2023)
-
Phase-locking matter-wave interferometer of vortex states
npj Quantum Information (2022)
-
Decay and recurrence of non-Gaussian correlations in a quantum many-body system
Nature Physics (2021)
-
Quantum technology applications of exciton-polariton condensates
Emergent Materials (2021)