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arXiv · 1405.2770

Bloch oscillations in atom interferometry

Pierre Cladé
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Abstract

In Paris, we are using an atom interferometer to precisely measure the recoil velocity of an atom that absorbs a photon. In order to reach a high sensitivity, many recoils are transferred to atoms using the Bloch oscillations technique. In this lecture, I will present in details this technique and its application to high precision measurement. I will especially describe in details how this method allows us to perform an atom recoil measurement at the level of $1.3 \times 10^{-9}$. This measurement is used in the most precise determination of the fine structure constant that is independent of quantum electrodynamics.

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Pierre Cladé. 2014-05-12. Bloch oscillations in atom interferometry. https://doi.org/10.1393/ncr%2Fi2015-10111-3

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