Continuously trapped matter-wave interferometry in magic Floquet-Bloch band structures
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.
Authors
- Hèctor Mas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7708-8934)
- Jeremy L. Tanlimco (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7092-3316)
- Alec Cao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6111-1375)
- Roshan Sajjad (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1090-4092)
- Xuanwei Liang
- David Weld (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4574-9491)
- S. Nicole Halawani
- E. Quinn Simmons
- Eber Nolasco-Martinez
- Eric Zhu
- Xiao Chai
Institutions
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (US)
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-02-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-69299-y
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 31.39
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Noyce Foundation
- University of California, Santa Barbara
- Division of Materials Research
- Army Research Office