Continuously trapped matter-wave interferometry in magic Floquet-Bloch band structures

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Authors: Xiao Chai, Eber Nolasco-Martinez, Xuanwei Liang, Jeremy L. Tanlimco, E. Quinn Simmons, Eric Zhu, Roshan Sajjad, Hèctor Mas, S. Nicole Halawani, Alec Cao, David Weld
Cited by: 3
References: 45

Abstract

Trapped matter-wave interferometry offers the promise of compact high-precision local force sensing. However, noise in the trap itself can introduce new systematic errors which are absent in traditional free-fall interferometers. We describe and demonstrate an intrinsically noise-tolerant Floquet-engineered platform for continuously trapped atom interferometry. A non-interacting degenerate quantum gas undergoes position-space Bloch oscillations through an amplitude-modulated optical lattice, whose resulting Floquet-Bloch band structure includes Landau-Zener beamsplitters and Bragg mirrors, forming the components of a Mach-Zehnder interferometric force sensor. We identify, realize, and experimentally characterize magic band structures, analogous to the magic wavelengths employed in optical lattice clocks, for which the interferometric phase is insensitive to lattice intensity noise. We leverage the intrinsic programmability of the Floquet band synthesis approach to demonstrate a variety of interferometer structures, highlighting the potential of this technique for quantum force sensors which are tunable, compact, simple, and robust.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates Mechanical and Optical Resonators Quantum Information and Cryptography

Publication details

Journal / source
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Volume
17
Issue
1
Publication date
9 February 2026
Language
EN