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A few years ago, in my role as a member of the editorial board of Advances in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics, I proposed that a special volume in that series be devoted to the rapidly emerging field of Atom Interferometry. This suggestion was met enthusiastically by the editors of that series, Benjamin Bederson and Herbert Walther. With their encouragement, I started to solicit contributions for this volume in the spring of 1994. Since I was fortunate enough to obtain commitments from many of the researchers who were instrumental in the development of atom interferometry, a decision was made to go ahead with the publication of a special volume in the Advances series. Somewhere along the line, the publishers at Academic Press, with the consent of Bederson and Walther, decided that it would be better for this book to be published as a standalone volume rather than as a special supplement to the Advances series. Be that as it may, the contributions to this book were written in the spirit of Advances articles, that is, reasonably long contributions summarizing recent accomplishments of the authors. When I was on the faculty at New York University, I developed a course for nonscience majors entitled 20th Century Concepts of Space, Time, and Matter, which I now teach at the University of Michigan. An important component of that course, as well as any introductory physics sequence, is an appreciation of the fact that both electromagnetic radiation and matter exhibit wave-like properties. The wave nature of electromagnetic radiation is often illustrated using some form of Young's double slit apparatus, which produces interference fringes that are explained in terms of constructive and destructive interference of the radiation that has traveled different optical path lengths to the screen on which the pattern is displayed. The wave nature of matter is often illustrated using electron diffraction patterns. Although the equations that govern the propagation of electromagnetic radiation (Maxwell's equations) and nonrelativistic matter waves (Schrrdinger's equation) are not the same, many of the basic wave-like properties of electromagnetic waves and matter waves are quite similar. Thus, it is possible for both electromagnetic radiation and matter to exhibit particle-like behavior if the wavelength of the radiation or matter waves is much smaller than all the relevant length scales in the problem, such as the size of obstacles that are scattering the waves. On the other hand, both electromagnetic waves and matter exhibit wavelike properties when the wavelength of the radiation or matter waves is comparable with the dimensions of the obstacles that are scattering the waves. xiii
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An interferometer is a device that exploits the wave nature of light. Typically, an interferometer contains a beam splitter that separates an incident beam of radiation or matter into two or more mutually coherent outgoing beams. The beams then recombine on a screen and exhibit interference fringes. Sometimes, additional beam splitters or mirrors are used to recombine the beams. Radiation and matter interferometers work on the same p r i n c i p l e - - t h e y differ only in the wavelength of the working medium (radiation or matter) and the nature of the beam splitters and mirrors that are needed. The wavelength associated with matter waves is typically 100 to 1000 times smaller than the wavelength of visible
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beam. Using a three grating Mach-Zehnder atom interferometer, they were able to measure the electric polarizability of the ground state of sodium and the index of refraction of the sodium matter waves in a buffer gas environment. A key feature of their measurements was the physical separation of the matter waves in the two arms of the interferometer. They were also able to monitor the loss of atomic coherence resulting from scattering of radiation from the matter waves in the interferometer. Batelaan, Bernet, Oberthaler, Rasel, Schmiedmayer, and Zeilinger also report on an atom interferometer of the Mach-Zehnder type, but with standing-wave fields rather than microfabricated gratings used as the optical elements. The matter wave used in their experiments was metastable argon, and different transitions could be used to study the effect of spontaneous emission on the interference signals. In addition, they carried out an experiment using three microfabricated structures to scatter the metastable argon atoms, in which the atoms' center-of-mass motion could be treated classically. They show that the "shadow" or moir6 pattern that is formed when atoms pass through the gratings can be used to measure the value of the acceleration of gravity and the Sagnac effect (modification of the fringe pattern resulting from rotation of the apparatus). Finally, they study scattering from standing wave light fields in the Bragg scattering limit. Clauser and Li compare interferometers in which the scattered matter waves are separated physically within the interferometers with those in which the scattered waves overlap within the interferometer. Both the Talbot and Talbot-(Ernst) Lau interferometers are examples of the latter class of interferometers. Clauser and his colleagues were the first to stress that Talbot-Lau interferometry had important potential applications in atom interferometry. In this article, Clauser and Li discuss the basic features of both the Talbot and Talbot-Lau interferometers, and present results from experiments in which potassium atoms were used as the matter waves in a three (microfabricated) grating Talbot-Lau interferometer. Applications discussed include Sagnac and electric polarizability measurements, as well as interferometric studies of matter wave decoherence produced by light scattering. The chapter by Shimizu includes a review of his work on two-slit interference patterns using metastable neon atoms released from a magneto-optical trap. This is followed by a description of a method for creating a binary hologram. When such a hologram is fabricated on a SiN film and illuminated with a matter wave of neon, the original object is reconstructed. Also included in this contribution is a report of a measurement of the second order correlation function associated with a matter wave. Kurtsiefer, Spreeuw, Drewsen, Wilkens, and Mlynek explore several aspects of atom optics in their contribution. They begin by reviewing the interaction of atoms with radiation fields. For a beam of atoms scattered by a standing-wave
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optical field that is detuned from the atomic transition frequency, the radiation field can be considered as a lens for the matter waves. Methods for correcting the various aberrations associated with this type of lens are discussed, as well as applications to atom lithography and surface probes. The authors then describe an experiment using metastable helium atoms scattered by a resonant standingwave field; as a result of spontaneous emission following the atom-field interaction, the visibility of the atom interference pattern is reduced. The visibility can be restored by measuring only those atomic events that are correlated with specific spontaneous emission modes. Additional methods are described for preparing entangled states involving the atoms and one or more photons. Finally a proposal for an atomic boson laser is set forth in which spontaneous emission into bound states of an optical lattice is stimulated by identical atoms already in that state. The subject matter shifts slightly with the article by Briegel, Englert, Scully, and Walther. They begin a discussion of atom interferometry in which intemal state labels of the atoms take on an important role. The first part of their chapter is devoted to a study of internal state atomic interference for atoms passing through modified versions of the Young's double slit experiment. They discuss complementarity and the importance of "which path" information in establishing interference patterns. The use of micromaser cavities in such experiments and the role played by the quantized field modes in the cavities is emphasized. The second half of the chapter contains a critical assessment of the possibility to recombine different spin states of atoms that have been split by a Stem-Gerlach magnet. In his contribution, Bord6 presents a general discussion of the theory of atom interferometers, including those employing either microfabricated slits or standing-wave fields as beam splitters and combiners. The role played by the internal states of the atoms is stressed. He studies Bragg scattering in the limit of off-resonance excitation and also uses a wave packet approach in analyzing the interferometers. Bord6 presents a unified approach to matter-wave interferometry in which the atoms, represented by Dirac .fields, are coupled to the electromagnetic field and to inertial fields. Effects such as the recoil splitting, gravitational shift, Thomas precession, Sagnac effect, Lense-Thirring effect, spin-rotation effect, and topological phase effects emerge naturally from this treatment. The next chapter by Sterr, Sengstock, Ertmer, Riehle, and Helmcke contains contributions from groups at the University of Hannover and the PhysikalischTechnische Bundesanstalt. The atom interferometers studied by these groups use either calcium or magnesium atoms as the active element and optical fields as the beam splitters and combiners. Internal state labeling plays an important role in these interferometers, in which the scattered waves overlap within the interferometer. Experiments are carded out for a geometry corresponding to a Ramsey-Bord6 interferometer using both continuous wave (cw) and pulsed optical fields. For the cw experiments, thermal or laser-cooled atomic beams are sent
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through several field regions where state-dependent scattering occurs. In the pulsed experiments, the interferometer is constructed in the time domain rather than the spatial domain. Among the measurements discussed are those of de Stark shift and polarizability, ac Stark effect, Aharonov-Bohm effect, AharonovCasher effect, and the Sagnac effect. Also included are applications of the interferometers as frequency standards. The chapter by Young, Kasevich, and Chu also discusses Ramsey-type interferometers, although the working atomic transition is one between different ground state sublevels rather than between a ground state level and a long-lived excited state level as in the case of calcium and magnesium. A review of the theory of the Ramsey interferometer is given, including effects of atomic recoil. The beam splitters and combiners used by Young, Kasevich, and Chu are based on single or multiple Raman pulses of counterpropagating optical fields, or on adiabatic transfer between the ground state sublevels. Both of these methods are reviewed. Atom interferometric measurements of the acceleration of gravity, variations in the acceleration of gravity, and the fine structure constant are reported, and the potential use of the interferometer as a gyroscope is discussed. The article by Dubetsky and myself returns to calculations of Talbot and TalbotLau interferometry using microfabricated slits as scatterers for the matter waves. Scattering in the classical and Fresnel diffraction (Talbot and Talbot-Lau effects) limits is interpreted in terms of the recoil that atoms undergo when they are scattered from the microfabricated gratings. It is shown that it is possible to produce atomic density profiles having periods that are a fraction of the periods of the microfabricated structures in both the classical and Fresnel diffraction limits. Moreover, it is shown that Talbot effect fringes can be produced even when the atomic beam has a thermal longitudinal velocity distribution. Processes that lead to modulation of the atomic density profile are classified into those that rely critically on quantization of the atoms' center-of-mass motion and those that do not. Of course, in a volume of this size it is impossible to present chapters from all the individuals and groups who have made important contributions to atom interferometry. In particular, material directly related to atom interferometers has been included somewhat at the expense of research focused in the areas of atom optics and atom lithography. Moreover, since atom interferometry is a rapidly developing field, many new and important contributions will have appeared between the planning stage and publication date of this volume. Readers are referred to the chapters of this book for additional references as well as the following journal volumes, which are special issues devoted to atom interferometry:
9 Applied Physics, Volume B 54, Number 5, May, 1992 9 Journal de Physique H, Volume 4, Number 11, November, 1994 9 Quantum and Semiclassical Optics, Volume 8, Number 3, June, 1996.
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Finally, I would like to thank each of the contributors for their cooperation in preparing this volume. I am aware of the amount of work that goes into writing chapters of this nature and also understand that all of the participants are heavily burdened with other demands on their time. I would also like to thank Zvi Ruder and Abby Heim at Academic Press for their help, encouragement, and patience.