Ben Aicha, Yosri — Bragg-Based Atom Interferometry with Overlapped Spatial Fringes

Bragg-based atom interferometry is the standard technique for atom interferometry using Bose-Einstein condensates as an atomic source.  However, as it is unable to distinguish between the two output ports of the interferometer at the final beam splitter pulse, a minimum separation time between the two clouds is required. This reduces the interferometer time compared to Raman methods for a given device size. We present a measurement technique to reduce this separation time by monitoring the phase between a spatial reference and overlapped spatial fringes arising from an asymmetrical Mach-Zehnder interferometer.