Atom beam velocity measurements using phase choppers

Abstract

We describe a new method to measure atom beam velocity in an atom interferometer using phase choppers. Phase choppers are analogous to mechanical chopping discs, but rather than being transmitted or blocked by mechanical choppers, an atom receives different differential phase shifts (e.g. zero or π radians) from phase choppers. Phase choppers yield 0.1% uncertainty measurements of beam velocity in our interferometer with 20 min of data and enable new measurements of polarizability with unprecedented precision.