Interferometer with a driven trapped ion

Abstract

We propose an interferometric measurement of weak forces using a single ion subjected to designed time-dependent spin-dependent forces. Explicit expressions of the relation between the unknown force and the final populations are found considering different scenarios, such as the weak force acting on two branches, acting on one branch, or having errors in the driving force. The flexibility to design the trap trajectories is used to minimize errors due to anharmonicities in the trap. The advantages of the approach are the use of geometrical phases, which provides stability, the possibility to design faster-than-adiabatic processes with sensitivity control, and the independence of the results on the motional states for the small-oscillations regime in which the effective potentials are purely harmonic.