Sagnac effect in a chain of mesoscopic quantum rings

TY - JOUR

T1 - Sagnac effect in a chain of mesoscopic quantum rings

AU - Search, Christopher P.

AU - Toland, John R.E.

AU - Zivkovic, Marko

PY - 2009/5/1

Y1 - 2009/5/1

N2 - The ability to interferometrically detect inertial rotations via the Sagnac effect has been a strong stimulus for the development of atom interferometry because of the potential 1010 enhancement of the rotational phase shift in comparison to optical Sagnac gyroscopes. Here we analyze ballistic transport of matter waves in a one-dimensional chain of N coherently coupled quantum rings in the presence of a rotation of angular frequency Ω. We show that the transmission probability, T, exhibits zero transmission stop gaps as a function of the rotation rate interspersed with regions of rapidly oscillating finite transmission. With increasing N, the transition from zero transmission to the oscillatory regime becomes an increasingly sharp function of Ω with a slope ∼ N2. The steepness of this slope dramatically enhances the response to rotations in comparison to conventional single ring interferometers such as the Mach-Zehnder interferometer and leads to a phase sensitivity well below the quantum shot-noise limit typical of atom interferometers.

AB - The ability to interferometrically detect inertial rotations via the Sagnac effect has been a strong stimulus for the development of atom interferometry because of the potential 1010 enhancement of the rotational phase shift in comparison to optical Sagnac gyroscopes. Here we analyze ballistic transport of matter waves in a one-dimensional chain of N coherently coupled quantum rings in the presence of a rotation of angular frequency Ω. We show that the transmission probability, T, exhibits zero transmission stop gaps as a function of the rotation rate interspersed with regions of rapidly oscillating finite transmission. With increasing N, the transition from zero transmission to the oscillatory regime becomes an increasingly sharp function of Ω with a slope ∼ N2. The steepness of this slope dramatically enhances the response to rotations in comparison to conventional single ring interferometers such as the Mach-Zehnder interferometer and leads to a phase sensitivity well below the quantum shot-noise limit typical of atom interferometers.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/65649114047

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/65649114047#tab=citedBy

U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevA.79.053607

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevA.79.053607

M3 - Article

SN - 1050-2947

VL - 79

JO - Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics

JF - Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics

IS - 5

M1 - 053607

ER -