Atomic Bose–Einstein condensates confined in quasi-1D waveguides can support bright-solitary-matter waves when interatomic interactions are sufficiently attractive to cancel dispersion. Such solitary-matter waves are excellent candidates for highly sensitive interferometers, as their non-dispersive nature allows them to acquire phase shifts for longer times than conventional matter-wave interferometers. In this work, we demonstrate experimentally the splitting and recombination of a bright-solitary-matter wave on a narrow repulsive barrier, realizing the fundamental components of an interferometer. We show that for a sufficiently narrow barrier, interference-mediated recombination can dominate over velocity-filtering effects. Our theoretical analysis shows that interference-mediated recombination is extremely sensitive to the barrier position, predicting strong oscillations in the interferometer output as the barrier position is adjusted over just a few micrometres. These results highlight the potential of soliton interferometry, while putting tight constraints on the barrier stability needed in future experimental implementations.

当原子间相互作用具有足够的吸引力来抵消色散时，局限于准一维波导中的原子玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚物可以支持亮孤峰。这样的孤波是高灵敏度干涉仪的极佳候选者，因为它们的非色散特性使它们能够比传统的物波干涉仪更长的时间获得相移。在这项工作中，我们通过实验证明了在狭窄的排斥势垒上明亮的孤立物质波的分裂和复合，从而实现了干涉仪的基本组件。我们表明，对于足够窄的势垒，干扰介导的重组可超过速度过滤效果。我们的理论分析表明，干扰介​​导的重组对屏障位置极为敏感，可以在几微米的范围内调整屏障位置，从而预测干涉仪输出中的强烈振荡。这些结果突出了孤子干涉测量的潜力，同时对未来的实验实现中所需的势垒稳定性施加了严格的约束。