Atom Interferomery at the U. of A.



Our goal is to pioneer new measurement techniques using atom optics. Atom optics includes elements such as diffraction gratings, beam-splitters, mirrors and lenses which manipulate matter waves coherently. We are constructing an atom-beam interferometer for these studies. It is a Mach-Zhender interferometer that splits deBroglie waves of atoms into two physically separate paths, and later combines the waves to produce interference fringes of matter as depicted in the annimation above.

Introduction

NEW:   Sodium interference fringes in Tucson                                            
Measurement of Atom-Surface van der Waals interaction
Dispersion Compensation (pdf) submitted to PRL           

Recent:   Glory Oscillations in the matter wave index of refraction (pdf)   PRL
Tony Roberts' MIT PhD Thesis                                      


Principle Investigator: Alex Cronin


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 updated by Alex Cronin, August 5, 2003