Dark-fringe interferometer with dynamic phase control for Mössbauer science
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Abstract
Interference is a powerful tool for measuring and control. In Mössbauer science, interference effects are essential to most applications, due to the coherent scattering nature. However, Mössbauer interferometry remains challenging, due to stability requirements imposed by the short x-ray wavelength. Here, we put forward a ``dark fringe'' interferometer with vanishing transmission in the empty state, thereby facilitating sensitive measurements. The relative interferometer phase can dynamically be tuned by displacing a Mössbauer target. We experimentally demonstrate the tuning capabilities of this interferometer by controlling the transmitted x-ray intensity on nanosecond time scales. Then, we demonstrate sensitive measurements by observing the propagation of impulsively launched sound waves in the target over $\sim 10\,μs$. The interferometer concept opens avenues towards polarization-sensitive phase measurements, the generation of coherent multi-pulse sequences for controlling nuclear dynamics, and the implementation of feedback loops to adaptively optimize the interferometer, thereby fueling the further development of nuclear quantum optics.