Representation-free description of atom interferometers in time-dependent linear potentials

Abstract In this article we present a new representation-free formalism, which can significantly simplify the analysis of interferometers comprised of atoms moving in time-dependent linear potentials. We present a methodology for the construction of two pairs of time-dependent functions that, once determined, lead to two conditions for the closing of the interferometer, and determine the phase and the contrast of the resultant interference. Using this new formalism, we explore the dependency of the interferometer phase on the interferometer time T for different atom interferometers. By now, it is well established that light pulse atom interferometers of the type first demonstrated by Kasevich and Chu (1991 Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 181–4; 1992 Appl. Phys. B 54, 321–32), henceforth referred to as Mach–Zehnder (MZ) atom interferometers, have a phase scaling as T 2. A few years ago, McDonald et al (2014 Europhys. Lett. 105, 63001) have experimentally demonstrated a novel type of atom interferometer, referred to as the continuous-acceleration bloch (CAB) interferometer, where the phase reveals a mixed scaling which is governed by a combination of T 2 and T 3. Moreover, we have recently proposed a different type of atom interferometer (Zimmermann et al 2017 Appl. Phys. B 123, 102), referred to as the T 3-interferometer, which has a pure T 3 scaling, as demonstrated theoretically. Finally, we conclude that the CAB interferometer can be shown to be a hybrid of the standard MZ interferometer and the T 3-interferometer.