PRECISE MEASUREMENTS OF S-WAVE SCATTERING PHASE SHIFTS WITH A JUGGLING ATOMIC CLOCK

Abstract

We demonstrate an interferometric scattering technique that allows highly precise measurements of s-wave scattering phase shifts. We collide two clouds of cesium atoms in a juggling fountain clock. The atoms in one cloud are prepared in a coherent superposition of the two clock states and the atoms in the other cloud in an F,mF state. After the two clouds collide, we detect the scattered part of the clock atom's wavefunction for which the phase of the clock coherence is shifted by the difference of the s-wave phase shifts. In this way, we unambiguously observe the differences of scattering phase shifts. These phase shifts are independent of the atomic density to lowest order, enabling measurements of scattering phase shifts with clock accuracy. Recently, we have observed the changes in scattering phase shifts as a function of magnetic field over a range where Feshbach resonances may be expected and inelastic scattering channels open and close. Measurements like these will tightly constrain our knowledge of cesium-cesium interactions. With such knowledge, future measurements may place stringent limits on the time variation of fundamental constants, such as the electron-proton mass ratio, by precisely probing phase shifts near a Feshbach resonance.