Patent ID: 7915577

Claim:
A method for imaging a magnetic field within an atom cloud, comprising: trapping an ultracold atom sample in a trap situated within a vacuum chamber; at time T 0 , releasing the atom sample from the trap, the atom sample falling in the z-direction due to gravity and expanding into an atom cloud, each of the atoms in the atom cloud having a velocity in one of the +x-direction and the −x-direction, a distance traveled by each atom in the ±x-direction at any time being approximately equal to x=vT, where v equals the atom's velocity and T equals time; at time Tr>T 0 , illuminating the atom cloud with a first Raman beam traveling in the +x direction and a second Raman beam collinear with the first Raman beam and traveling in the −x direction, the first and second Raman beams causing a change in velocity in resonant atoms in the atom cloud, wherein a first plurality of the resonant atoms has an average velocity of +v 0 and travels along the +x-direction a distance of +x 0 =+v 0 T at time T, and further wherein a second plurality of the resonant atoms has an average velocity of −v 0 and travels along the −x-direction a distance of −x −0 =−v 0 T at time T, each of +x 0 and −x 0 being dependent on the magnetic field surrounding the atom cloud; and at time Ti>Tr, imaging the atom cloud in a single imaging cycle, wherein the entire magnetic field within the atom cloud is imaged in the single imaging cycle, a spatial resolution of the imaged magnetic field being no larger than a size of the trap; wherein the first and second plurality of resonant atoms appear in the image as lines in the atom cloud at the +x 0 and −x 0 positions along the +x direction and the −x direction; and further wherein a configuration of the lines is being indicative of at least one characteristic of the magnetic field.