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Drawing inspiration from a remarkable chiral force found in nature, we show that a static electric field combined with an optical lin ⊥ lin polarization standing wave can exert a chiral optical force on a small chiral molecule that is several orders of magnitude stronger than other chiral optical forces proposed to date, being based on leading electric-dipole interactions rather than relying on weak magnetic-dipole and electric-quadrupole interactions. Our chiral optical force applies to most small chiral molecules, including isotopically chiral molecules, and does not require a specific energy-level structure. Potential applications range from chiral molecular matter-wave interferometry for precision metrology and tests of fundamental physics to the resolution of enantiomers for use in chemistry and biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to cool quantum gases into the quantum degenerate realm has opened up possibilities for an extreme level of quantum-state control. In this paper, we investigate one such control protocol that demonstrates the resonant amplification of quasimomentum pairs from a Bose–Einstein condensate by the periodic modulation of the two-body s -wave scattering length. This shows a capability to selectively amplify quantum fluctuations with a predetermined momentum, where the momentum value can be spectroscopically tuned. A classical external field that excites pairs of particles with the same energy but opposite momenta is reminiscent of the coherently-driven nonlinearity in a parametric amplifier crystal in nonlinear optics. For this reason, it may be anticipated that the evolution will generate a ‘squeezed’ matter-wave state in the quasiparticle mode on resonance with the modulation frequency. Our model and analysis is motivated by a recent experiment by Clark et al that observed a time-of-flight pattern similar to an exploding firework (Clark et al 2017 Nature 551 356–9). Since the drive is a highly coherent process, we interpret the observed firework patterns as arising from a monotonic growth in the two-body correlation amplitude, so that the jets should contain correlated atom pairs with nearly equal and opposite momenta. We propose a potential future experiment based on applying Ramsey interferometry to experimentally probe these pair correlations.

Matter-wave interferometry is a highly sensitive tool to measure small perturbations in a quantum system. This property allows the creation of precision sensors for dephasing mechanisms such as mechanical vibrations. They are a challenge for phase measurements under perturbing conditions that cannot be perfectly decoupled from the interferometer, e.g. for mobile interferometric devices or vibrations with a broad frequency range. Here, we demonstrate a method based on second-order correlation theory in combination with Fourier analysis, to use an electron interferometer as a sensor that precisely characterizes the mechanical vibration spectrum of the interferometer. Using the high spatial and temporal single-particle resolution of a delay line detector, the data allows to reveal the original contrast and spatial periodicity of the interference pattern from 'washed-out' matter-wave interferograms that have been vibrationally disturbed in the frequency region between 100 and 1000 Hz. Other than with electromagnetic dephasing, due to excitations of higher harmonics and additional frequencies induced from the environment, the parts in the setup oscillate with frequencies that can be different to the applied ones. The developed numerical search algorithm is capable to determine those unknown oscillations and corresponding amplitudes. The technique can identify vibrational dephasing and decrease damping and shielding requirements in electron, ion, neutron, atom and molecule interferometers that generate a spatial fringe pattern on the detector plane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discovery of the Stern–Gerlach (SG) effect almost a century ago was followed by suggestions to use the effect as a basis for matter-wave interferometry. However, the coherence of splitting particles with spin by a magnetic gradient to a distance exceeding the position uncertainty in each of the arms was not demonstrated until recently, where spatial interference fringes were observed in a proof-of-principle experiment. Here we present and analyze the performance of an improved high-stability SG spatial fringe interferometer based on two spatially separate wave packets with a maximal distance that is more than an order of magnitude larger than their minimal widths. The improved performance is enabled by accurate magnetic field gradient pulses, originating from a novel atom chip configuration, which ensures high stability of the interferometer operation. We analyze the achieved stability using several models, discuss sources of noise, and detail interferometer optimization procedures. We also present a simple analytical phase-space description of the interferometer sequence that demonstrates quantitatively the complete separation of the superposed wave packets ^2 .