Three-beam atom interferometer

We present an atom interferometer based on the interference of three partial matter waves in three different internal and external states. Coherent laser excitation acts as a beamsplitter to create a superposition state of the ground state and two Zeeman sublevels of the metastable state of magnesium atoms. The interference pattern of the output ports shows high contrast and the characteristics of three-beam interferences as known from optical interferometry. In comparison to two-beam interferometry a reduction of the fringe width of (32+/-8)% is observed. This offers various possibilities for improved measurements of quantum-mechanical phases due to the internal atomic-state sensitive coupling of external potentials. This is demonstrated for the interaction of magnesium atoms with an external magnetic field.