Probing Gravity for one Minute with an Optical-Lattice Atom Interferometer

We have realized an atom interferometer that probes gravitational potentials by holding, rather than dropping, atoms. Up to one minute of coherence times are realized by suspending the spatially separated atomic wave packets in an optical lattice that is mode-filtered by an optical cavity. This trap...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2023-01
Main Authors: Panda, C D, Tao, M, Eggelhof, J, Ceja, M, Reynoso, A, V Xu, Muller, H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Coherence
Interferometers
Optical lattices
Spatial resolution
Wave packets
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:We have realized an atom interferometer that probes gravitational potentials by holding, rather than dropping, atoms. Up to one minute of coherence times are realized by suspending the spatially separated atomic wave packets in an optical lattice that is mode-filtered by an optical cavity. This trapped configuration suppresses phase variance due to vibrations by four to five orders of magnitude, overcoming the dominant noise source in atom-interferometric gravimeters. Recent progress in characterizing and reducing interferometer decoherence led to major increases in coherence and precision, paving the way to measurements of dark-energy candidates and probes of the quantum nature of gravity through measuring the gravity of source masses with record precision and spatial resolution.
ISSN:2331-8422