Nowadays inertial sensing with atom interferometers has reached a great level of maturity.
Several limits on a wider application of cold-atom–based inertial sensors are imposed by the
size of the devices and the short coherence times of the sources. A new generation of matter-
wave interferometers utilizing Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) is continuously making the
latter statement less severe. Autonomous, compact and high-flux BEC machines are
realized and push forward the use of atomic sensors thanks to the source intrinsic …

This dissertation describes the creation of the first matter-wave interferometer using
ytterbium (Yb) atoms. Most of the experiments focus on a contrast interferometer geometry
with a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) as source. The recoil frequency of the 174-Yb atom
is measured with this interferometer. The recoil frequency of an atom is part of a set of
precision measurements that together give a value for the fine structure constant. The
experimental results of this dissertation lay the groundwork for a future sub part-per-billion …