Summary
One of the main remaining limiting factors is the relatively small number of particles (~10^6) per shot. A tight control of the atom number fluctuations is therefore crucial. Inversely, it also makes atom-number squeezing quite feasible. We plan to dothis using atom-shot-noise limited detection and quantum-nondemolition measurements of the initial atoms numbers. ESR-FORTH will explore the possibility of employing the Faraday paramagnetic effect to detect the state of a cold-atom sensor as a quantum non-demolition measurement and to generate number-squeezed atom input- states for the interferometer. This taps into an ongoing project, which has already resulted in a x100 reduction in the atom-number fluctuations using a very similar method. We will generate entanglement between atoms and squeezing, which can enhance the sensitivity of the measurement. Besides the single-shot improvement, we aim to demonstrate that with this measurement scheme the quantum state-preparation time can be greatly reduced, so that more repetitions per second can be performed. Elements of this technique have already been tested (by members of the FORTH team) in warm-atomic vapours performing full quantumnondemolition measurements.
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