Title: Very Long Baseline Atom Interferometry
Time: April 22, 2024 (Monday) 10:00
Location: Report hall M1017
Presenter: Dr. Dennis Schlippert
(Institute of Quantum Optics)
RESEARCH AND TEACHING
PI of BMBF junior research group:project QulS-g
VLBAI-Very Long Baseline Atom Interferometry
Quantum-tests of the Equivalence Principle
Sensor fusion methods
Abstract:
Very Long Baseline Atom Interferometry (VLBAl) enables ground-based atomic matter-wave interferometry on large scales in space and time. By letting atomic wave functions interfere after free evolution times of several seconds or wave packet separation at the scale of meters, these devices benefit from significantly enhanced sensitivity to inertial forces thanks to the quadratic scaling of the leading order phase shift with the free evolution time. With shot noise-limited instabilities better than10-9 m/s2 at I s at the horizon, the Hannover VLBAl facility may compete with state-of-the-art superconducting gravimeters, while providing absolute instead of relative gravity measurements.Operated with rubidium and ytterbium simultaneously, tests of the universality of free fall at a level of parts in 10^13 and beyond are in reach. Finally, the large spatial extent of the interferometer allows one to probe the limits of coherence at macroscopic scales as well as the interplay of quantum mechanics and gravity. We report on the status of the VLBAl facility and its key features - the high-flux atomic sources for Rb and Yb and small-scale interferometry, the 10 m magnetic shield, and the low-noise seismic attenuation system. We discuss the prospects of tests of fundamental physics in the VLBAI facility.