Tailoring Multiloop Atom Interferometers with Adjustable Momentum Transfer

Abstract

Multiloop matter-wave interferometers are essential in quantum sensing to measure the derivatives of physical quantities in time or space. Because multiloop interferometers require multiple reflections, imperfections of the matter-wave mirrors create spurious paths that scramble the signal of interest. Here, we demonstrate a method of adjustable momentum transfer that prevents the recombination of the spurious paths in a double-loop atom interferometer aimed at measuring rotation rates. We experimentally study the recombination condition of the spurious matter waves, which is quantitatively supported by a model accounting for the coherence properties of the atomic source. We finally demonstrate the effectiveness of the method in building a cold-atom gyroscope with a single-shot acceleration sensitivity suppressed by a factor of at least 50. Our study will impact the design of multiloop atom interferometers that measure a single inertial quantity.