Tailoring multi-loop atom interferometers with adjustable momentum transfer.

Multi-loop matter-wave interferometers are essential in quantum sensing to extract physical quantities and their derivatives in time or space. They are realized by stacking several mirror stages, but the finite efficiency of the matter-wave mirrors creates spurious paths which scramble the signal of interest. Here we demonstrate a method of adjustable momentum transfer that prevents the recombination of the spurious paths in a double-loop cold-atom interferometer aimed at measuring rotation rates. We experimentally study the recombination condition of the spurious matter waves, which is quantitatively supported by a model accounting for the coherence properties of the atomic source. We finally demonstrate the effectiveness of the method in building a cold-atom gyroscope with zero residual acceleration sensitivity. Our study will impact the design of multi-loop atom interferometers that measure a unique inertial quantity.