An atom interferometer with a shaken optical lattice

C. A. Weidner, Hoon Yu, Ronnie Kosloff, and Dana Z. Anderson

Published 2016-09-01Version 1

We introduce shaken lattice interferometry with atoms trapped in a one-dimensional optical lattice. The atoms undergo an interferometer sequence of splitting, propagation, reflection, and recombination by phase modulation of the lattice through a sequence of shaking functions. Each function in the sequence is determined by a learning procedure that is implemented with a genetic algorithm. Numerical simulations determine the momentum state of the atoms, which is experimentally accessible with time-of-flight imaging. The shaking function is then optimized to achieve the desired state transitions. The sensitivity of the interferometer to perturbations such as those introduced by inertial forces scales the same way as for conventional matter wave interferometers. The shaken lattice interferometer may be optimized to sense signals of interest while rejecting others, such as the measurement of an AC signal while rejecting a DC bias.