Robust Atom Optics for Strontium-88 Atom Interferometers

Light pulse atom interferometers using alkaline earth atoms have numerous applications, ranging from tests of fundamental physics to mobile surveying. In practice, their performance is limited by laser noise and inhomogeneities across the atom cloud, causing atom loss and phase errors which accumulate with repeated pulses. In this talk, we report design and simulation studies of numerical quantum optimal control (QOC) mirrors and beamsplitters for use with large momentum transfer (LMT) atom interferometers based on multi-photon Bragg (461 nm) and single-photon (689 nm) transitions in Sr-88. These pulses are simultaneously robust to multiple sources of noise including laser amplitude fluctuations, momentum variation, and magnetic field or polarization errors, allowing longer pulse sequences and operation in noisy environments. We compare loss of simulated fringe contrast in LMT sequences to demonstrate the advantage of optimized pulses over square, Gaussian, and composite pulses. Once implemented, such QOC atom optics may allow the next generation of atom interferometers to overcome previously unavoidable limitations.