Abstract

AbstractIn this invited review in honor of 100 years since the Stern-Gerlach (SG) experiments, we describe a decade of SG interferometry on the atom chip. The SG effect has been a paradigm of quantum mechanics throughout the last century, but there has been surprisingly little evidence that the original scheme, with freely propagating atoms exposed to gradients from macroscopic magnets, is a fully coherent quantum process. Specifically, no full-loop SG interferometer (SGI) has been realized with the scheme as envisioned decades ago. Furthermore, several theoretical studies have explained why it is a formidable challenge. Here we provide a review of our SG experiments over the last decade. We describe several novel configurations such as that giving rise to the first SG spatial interference fringes, and the first full-loop SGI realization. These devices are based on highly accurate magnetic fields, originating from an atom chip, that ensure coherent operation within strict constraints described by previous theoretical analyses. Achieving this high level of control over magnetic gradients is expected to facilitate technological applications such as probing of surfaces and currents, as well as metrology. Fundamental applications include the probing of the foundations of quantum theory, gravity, and the interface of quantum mechanics and gravity. We end with an outlook describing possible future experiments.

Highlights

  • This review follows the centennial conference held in Frankfurt in the same building housing the original Stern-Gerlach (SG) experiments

  • We describe the SG interferometry performed in our laboratories at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) over the last decade

  • The trail-blazing experiments of Otto Stern and Walther Gerlach one hundred years ago [1–4] required a few basic ingredients: a source of isolated atoms with well-specified momentum components, an inhomogeneous magnetic field and, if we follow the historical account of events in [5], a smoky cigar

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Summary

Introduction

This review follows the centennial conference held in Frankfurt in the same building housing the original Stern-Gerlach (SG) experiments. Notwithstanding the impressive endeavors of [35–45] this is, to the best of our knowledge, the first realization of a complete SG interferometer analogous to that originally envisioned a century ago Achieving this high level of control over magnetic gradients may facilitate fundamental research. Stern-Gerlach interferometry with mesoscopic objects has been suggested as a compact detector for space-time metric and curvature [46], possibly enabling detection of gravitational waves. It has been suggested as a probe for the quantum nature of gravity [47]. Particle Sources: a brief discussion of how the atom chip complements and extends the century-long use of atomic and molecular beams in Stern-Gerlach experiments; Section 3. May we continue to find surprises, fundamental insights, and exciting applications

Particle Sources
The Atom Chip Stern-Gerlach Beam Splitter
Half-Loop Stern-Gerlach Interferometer
Full-Loop Stern-Gerlach Interferometer
Applications
Clock Interferometery
Clock Complementarity
Geometric Phase
T 3 Stern-Gerlach Interferometer
SGI with Single Ions
Findings
SGI with Massive Objects

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