High contrast Mach-Zehnder lithium atom interferometer in the Bragg regime

Abstract

We have constructed an atom interferometer of the Mach-Zehnder type, operating with a supersonic beam of lithium. Atom diffraction uses Bragg diffraction on laser standing waves. With first order diffraction, our apparatus has given a large signal and a very good fringe contrast (74%), which we believe to be the highest ever observed with atom interferometers. This apparatus will be applied to high sensitivity measurementsComment: 6 pages, 3 figures, accepted by Appl. Phys.