A precise measurement of h/m_{Rb} using Bloch oscillations in a vertical optical lattice: determination of the fine structure constant

Figure 2: Top: ratio (expressed in %) between total columns retrieved from simulated spectra based on various vertical profiles and the total column obtained with the reference

In our experiment, the atoms are efficiently accelerated by means of N Bloch oscillations (BO). The velocity selection and velocity measurement are done with Raman transitions.

Fine structure constant,electron moment anomaly, atom interferometry, Bloch oscillations, Quantum electrodynam- ics test, atomic mass

Another particular interest of our method is the small spatial amplitude of the atomic wavepacket motion, during the oscillations ( 1 ), therefore the selection (first Raman pulse)

In a simple way, Bloch oscillations can be seen as Raman transitions where the atom begins and ends in the same energy level, so that its internal state (F = 1) is unchanged while

In a simple way, they can be viewed as two-photon transitions in which the atom begins and ends in the same energy level, so that its internal state (F = 1) remains unchanged while

1: Determinations of α with a relative uncertainty smaller than 10 − 8 ; a e (UW): measurement by Dehmelt at the University of Washington [8]; h/m Cs : measurement of the Cesium

In 2005, our group used the Bloch oscillations (BO) of Rb atoms in an optical lattice to transfer a large number of photon momenta to the atoms: we achieved a precise measure- ment