Abstract

The de Broglie-type interferometer for atoms has been realized, until now, by diffraction on very precisely machined absorption gratings or slits, dividing the beam into the various orders of diffraction. Our interferometer, however, does not use absorption gratings. Instead, it uses phase gratings and a small grating period as well as low absorption of a far-detuned standing light wave. We choose for separation and recombination of the beam the three-grating configuration. This setup is free of dispersion and thus accepts a source with a small longitudinal coherence and a rather broad beam divergence. The divergence is limited only by the diffraction angle, which is 30 grad for the first order.

© 1995 Optical Society of America