An atom interferometer for measuring loss of coherence from an atom mirror

Jérôme Estève (1) , David Stevens (1) , Christine Aussibal (1) , Nathalie Westbrook (1) , Alain Aspect (1) , Christoph I Westbrook (1)

1 laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique / Optique atomique

We describe an atom interferometer to study the coherence of atoms reflected from an evanescent wave mirror. The interferometer is sensitive to the loss of phase coherence induced by the defects in the mirror. The results are consistent with and complementary to recent measurements of specular reflection.

Mots clés: Atom interferometer; Atom mirror; Atom optics

Domaines: Physique Atomique [physics.atom-ph]; Optique [physics.optics]

Jérôme Estève, David Stevens, Christine Aussibal, Nathalie Westbrook, Alain Aspect, et al.. An atom interferometer for measuring loss of coherence from an atom mirror. The European Physical Journal D : Atomic, molecular, optical and plasma physics, 2004, 31, pp.487. ⟨hal-00002437⟩