Sensing gravity by holding atoms for 20 seconds

Publikation: Bidrag til bog/antologi/rapportKonferencebidrag i proceedingsForskningfagfællebedømt

Atom interferometry has proven both a powerful means for probing fundamental physics, and a promising technology for high-precision inertial sensing. However, their performance has been limited by the available interrogation time of atoms falling freely in Earth's gravitational field. Trapped geometries have thus been explored as a means to improve the sensitivity of atom interferometers, but attempts to date have suffered from decoherence caused by trap inhomogeneities. We have demonstrated a trapped atom interferometer with an unprecedented interrogation time of 20 seconds,1 achieved by trapping the interferometer in the resonant mode of an optical cavity. The cavity is instrumental to this advance, as it provides spatial mode filtering for the trapping potential. Because the interferometer is held with the arms vertically separated along the gravitational axis, a phase shift accumulates due to the gravitational potential energy difference between the arms. Moreover, this phase accumulates continuously during the hold time, providing an orders-of-magnitude greater immunity to vibrations than previous atom-interferometric gravimeters at the same sensitivity.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
TitelOptical, Opto-Atomic, and Entanglement-Enhanced Precision Metrology II
RedaktørerSelim M. Shahriar, Jacob Scheuer
Antal sider8
UdgivelsesstedSan Francisco, California, USA
ForlagSPIE - International Society for Optical Engineering
Publikationsdato2020
Artikelnummer112961R
ISBN (Elektronisk)9781510633551
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2020
BegivenhedOptical, Opto-Atomic, and Entanglement-Enhanced Precision Metrology II 2020 - San Francisco, USA
Varighed: 1 feb. 20206 feb. 2020

Konference

KonferenceOptical, Opto-Atomic, and Entanglement-Enhanced Precision Metrology II 2020
LandUSA
BySan Francisco
Periode01/02/202006/02/2020
SponsorThe Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)
NavnProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Vol/bind11296
ISSN0277-786X

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
and Lucile Packard Foundation, the National Science Foundation under grant no. 1708160, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration grants 1629914 and 1612859.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 SPIE.

ID: 271554648