Eur. Phys. J. D 59, 349-360 (2010)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2010-00198-0

Theoretical analysis of a large momentum beamsplitter using Bloch oscillations

Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, UPMC, École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France

Corresponding author: ^a pierre.clade@spectro.jussieu.fr

Received: 21 December 2009
Revised: 19 April 2010
Published online: 27 July 2010

Abstract

In this paper, we present the implementation of Bloch oscillations in an atomic interferometer to increase the separation of the two interfering paths. A numerical model, in very good agreement with the experiment, is developed. The contrast of the interferometer and its sensitivity to phase fluctuations and to intensity fluctuations are also calculated. We demonstrate that the sensitivity to phase fluctuations can be significantly reduced by using a suitable arrangement of Bloch oscillations pulses.