Toward a test of angular momentum coherence in a twin-atom   interferometer
  We present a scheme well-suited to investigate quantitatively the angular momentum coherence of molecular fragments. Assuming that the dissociated molecule has a null total angular momentum, we investigate the propagation of the corresponding atomic fragments in the apparatus. We show that the envisioned interferometer enables one to distinguish unambiguously a spin-coherent from a spin-incoherent dissociation, as well as to estimate the purity of the angular momentum density matrix associated with the fragments. This setup, which may be seen as an atomic analogue of a twin-photon interferometer, can be used to investigate the suitability of molecule dissociation processes -- such as the metastable hydrogen atoms H($2^2 S$)-H($2^2 S$) dissociation - for coherent twin-atom optics. 
Carlos R. de Carvalho (IF/UFRJ), Ginette Jalbert (IF/UFRJ),   Fran\c{c}ois Impens (IF/UFRJ), J. Robert (LAC/ORSAY), Aline Me...
quant-ph physics.optics