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arXiv · 1707.07600

Detection of Applied and Ambient Forces with a Matterwave Magnetic-Gradiometer

Billy I. Robertson·Andrew R. MacKellar·James Halket·Anna Gribbon·Jonathan D. Pritchard·Aidan S. Arnold·Erling Riis·Paul F. Griffin
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Abstract

An atom interferometer using a Bose-Einstein condensate of $^{87}$Rb atoms is utilized for the measurement of magnetic field gradients. Composite optical pulses are used to construct a spatially symmetric Mach-Zehnder geometry. Using a biased interferometer we demonstrate the ability to measure small residual forces in our system at the position of the atoms. These are a residual magnetic field gradient of 15$\pm$2 mG/cm and and an inertial acceleration of 0.08$\pm$0.02 m/s$^2$. Our method has important applications in the calibration of precision measurement devices and the reduction of systematic errors.

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Billy I. Robertson, Andrew R. MacKellar, James Halket, Anna Gribbon, Jonathan D. Pritchard, Aidan S. Arnold, Erling Riis, Paul F. Griffin. 2017-07-24. Detection of Applied and Ambient Forces with a Matterwave Magnetic-Gradiometer. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.96.053622

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