Ramsey interferometry with an atom laser

Abstract

We present results on a free-space atom interferometer operating on the first order magnetically insensitive |F = 1,mF = 0› → |F = 2,mF = 0› ground state transition of Bosecondensed 87Rb atoms. A pulsed atom laser is output-coupled from a Bose-Einstein condensate and propagates through a sequence of two internal state beam splitters, realized via coherent Raman transitions between the two interfering states. We observe Ramsey fringes with a visibility close to 100% and determine the current and the potentially achievable interferometric phase sensitivity. This system is well suited to testing recent proposals for generating and detecting squeezed atomic states.