Examining the Magnetic Field Gradient in a Magnetically Sensitive Atomic Interferometer with T-Cubed Sensitivity

Light-pulse atom interferometers have phase shifts that scale as T squared, where T is the time between laser pulses. Recently, the possibility of higher order scaling has been proposed [1,2] and demonstrated using BECs on chips [3]. The demonstration of this scaling using thermal atoms in free fall is more difficult, owing to the failure of the atom interferometer to close in the unavoidable presence of magnetic field gradients. We present the impact of these gradients on a novel T cubed atom interferometer by modelling the full magnetic field and calculating the classical dynamics as well as the phase shift due to field gradients in the vertical direction. Additionally, we will provide an update on the experimental progress.

[1] Zimmermann, M. et al. (2018). T 3-Interferometer for Atoms. In: Meschede, D., Udem, T., Esslinger, T. (eds) Exploring the World with the Laser. Springer, Cham. 

[2] Zimmermann, M. et al. (2019). New J. Phys. 21, 073031. 

[3] Amit, O. et al. (2019). Phys. Rev. Let. 123, 083601.