Efficient broadband Raman pulses for large-area atom interferometry

We report a demonstration of composite Raman pulses that achieve broadband population inversion and are used to increase the momentum splitting of an atom interferometer up to 18 (h) over bark (corresponding to an increase in the inertial signal by a factor of nine). Composite Raman pulses suppress the effects of pulse length and detuning errors, providing higher transfer efficiency and velocity acceptance than single square pulses. We implement two composite pulse sequences, pi/2(0 degrees) - pi(90 degrees) - pi/2(0 degrees) and pi/2(0 degrees) - pi(180 degrees) - 3 pi/2(0 degrees), and use the latter composite pulse to demonstrate large-area atom interferometry with stimulated Raman transitions. In addition to enabling larger momentum transfer and higher sensitivity, we argue that composite pulses can improve the robustness of atom interferometers operating in dynamic environments. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America