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Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 230402 (2004) [4 pages]

Atom Interferometry with Trapped Fermi Gases

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G. Roati, E. de Mirandes, F. Ferlaino, H. Ott, G. Modugno, and M. Inguscio
LENS and Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Firenze, and INFM, Via Nello Carrara 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

Received 11 February 2004; published 8 June 2004

We realize an interferometer with an atomic Fermi gas trapped in an optical lattice under the influence of gravity. The single-particle interference between the eigenstates of the lattice results in macroscopic Bloch oscillations of the sample. The absence of interactions between fermions allows a time-resolved study of many periods of the oscillations, leading to a sensitive determination of the acceleration of gravity. The experiment proves the superiority of noninteracting fermions with respect to bosons for precision interferometry and offers a way for the measurement of forces with microscopic spatial resolution.

© 2004 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.230402
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.230402
PACS:
03.75.Ss, 03.75.Lm, 39.20.+q