Uys Hermann, Perreault John D, Cronin Alexander D
Department of Physics, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA.
Phys Rev Lett. 2005 Oct 7;95(15):150403. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.150403. Epub 2005 Oct 5.
Decoherence due to scattering from background gas particles is observed for the first time in a Mach-Zehnder atom interferometer, and compared with decoherence due to scattering photons. A single theory is shown to describe decoherence due to scattering either atoms or photons. Predictions from this theory are tested by experiments with different species of background gas, and also by experiments with different collimation restrictions on an atom beam interferometer.
在马赫-曾德尔原子干涉仪中首次观察到由于背景气体粒子散射导致的退相干现象,并与光子散射导致的退相干现象进行了比较。结果表明,一个单一的理论可以描述原子或光子散射导致的退相干。该理论的预测通过使用不同种类背景气体的实验以及对原子束干涉仪进行不同准直限制的实验进行了检验。