Quantum Control Enhanced Resonant Atom Interferometry by Sharika Saraf and Kefeng Jiang

Resonant atom interferometry is a method by which a multi-loop interferometer signal can be amplified by a factor of twice the loop number at the resonant frequency. As multi-loop interferometers involve the use of repeated mirror pulses, one limiting factor is imperfect mirror pulse efficiencies that deplete population from the main interferometer path. The advantages of a high Rabi frequency mean that we are interested in increasing laser intensity, which lends itself to intensity inhomogeneities that impact pulse efficiency. Thus, we are left with “stray” paths that interfere with one another, resulting in neighboring families of interference patterns as well as that of the main interferometer path. One solution is to engineer multi-pulse mirror sequences by optimizing the phases applied to single pulses, as well as the number of pulses per sequence, to maximize the population in the main interferometer path. This poster will describe the results of our quantum control enhanced resonant atom interferometry apparatus and discuss improvements that can be achieved with optimal control methods.