Atomic Physics Seminars

Recent growth of the atom interferometry field is being driven by the wide array of its possible applications in precision measurements of the fundamental physical constants, and for sensing of inertial effects. Inertial sensing such as rotation was one of the first and one of the most practically important demonstrated applications for atom interferometers. Many believe that cold atom-based interferometer for rotational sensing – a device called a gyroscope – can be both compact and highly sensitive. In my talk, I review various types of atom interferometers and show that cold thermal atoms are well suited for atom interferometry. I will also talk about our recent implementation of a quantum kicked rotor, a system whose classical counterpart exhibits chaos, in a guided atom interferometer. I will discuss the applications of our quantum kicked rotor to accurate measurements of gravitational acceleration and atomic recoil frequency as well as to study a quantum-classical correspondence principle.