Phys.org October 1, 2024
A team of researchers in the US (University of Michigan, DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory) investigated the possible realization of an ultracold-atom rotation sensor that was based on recently proposed tractor atom interferometry (TAI). They described an experimental design that included the generation of a Laguerre–Gaussian-beam-based “pinwheel” optical lattice and multi-loop interferometric cycles. Numerical simulations of the proposed system demonstrated TAI rotation sensitivity comparable to that of contemporary matter-wave interferometers. They applied quantum optimal control to devise a methodology suitable to address nonadiabaticity which might hinder systems performance. According to the researchers their studies are of interest for current efforts to realize compact and robust matter-wave rotation sensors, as well as for fundamental physics applications of TAI… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
An 8-site pinwheel 87Rb optical lattice is created from… Credit: AVS Quantum Sci. 6, 014407 (2024)