Theoretical analysis of a single and double reflection atom interferometer in a weakly-confining magnetic trap

摘要

The operation of a BEC based atom interferometer, where the atoms are held ina weakly-confining magnetic trap and manipulated with counter-propagating laserbeams, is analyzed. A simple analytic model is developed to describe thedynamics of the interferometer. It is used to find the regions of parameterspace with high and low contrast of the interference fringes for both singleand double reflection interferometers. We demonstrate that for a doublereflection interferometer the coherence time can be increased by shifting therecombination time. The theory is compared with recent experimentalrealizations of these interferometers.