Active SU(1,1) atom interferometry

Abstract: Active interferometers use amplifying elements for beam splitting and recombination. We experimentally implement such a device by using spin exchange in a Bose-Einstein condensate. The two interferometry modes are initially empty spin states that get spontaneously populated in the process of parametric amplification. This nonlinear mechanism scatters atoms into both modes in a pairwise fashion and generates a nonclassical state. Finally, a matched second period of spin exchange is performed that nonlinearly amplifies the output signal and maps the phase onto readily detectable first moments. Depending on the accumulated phase this nonlinear readout can reverse the initial dynamics and deamplify the entangled state back to empty spin states. This sequence is described in the framework of SU(1,1) mode transformations and compared to the SU(2) angular momentum description of passive interferometers.