Optimal control of Raman pulse sequences for atom interferometry

We present the theoretical design and experimental implementation of mirror and beamsplitter pulses that improve the fidelity of atom interferometry and increase its tolerance of systematic inhomogeneities. These pulses are designed using the GRAPE optimal control algorithm and demonstrated experimentally with a cold thermal sample of Rb-85 atoms. We first show a stimulated Raman inversion pulse design that achieves a ground hyperfine state transfer efficiency of 99.8(3)%, compared with a conventional pi pulse efficiency of 75(3)%. This inversion pulse is robust to variations in laser intensity and detuning, maintaining a transfer efficiency of 90% at detunings for which the pi pulse fidelity is below 20%, and is thus suitable for large momentum transfer interferometers using thermal atoms or operating in non-ideal environments. We then extend our optimization to all components of a Mach-Zehnder atom interferometer sequence and show that with a highly inhomogeneous atomic sample the fringe visibility is increased threefold over that using conventional pi and pi/2 pulses.