Test of Gravitation with Quantum Objects by an Application of Ramsey´s Method of separated Oscillating Fields to Gravitationally Induced Quantum Phaseshifts

我们建议通过深入到理论上有趣的1000倍引力区域的量子干涉来测试小距离引力定律。这个想法是探索一个由粒子、中子和宏观物体镜子组成的独特系统，以及它对量子德布罗意相的精确测量。这将首次通过将拉姆齐的分离振荡场方法应用于水平镜上方引力势中量子态的光谱来实现。这种用超冷中子进行的测量将提供对牛顿定律或假设的短程相互作用的敏感性，后者比电磁能量标度低约21个数量级。因此，我们的方法探索了一个参数空间区域，该区域是对即将到来的微悬臂梁和扭转平衡实验的超微米范围的补充。

We propose to test the law of gravitation at small distances by quantum interference deep into the theoretically interesting regime of 1000 times gravity. The idea is to explore a unique system consisting of a particle, the neutron, and a macroscopic object, the mirror, and its precise measurement of quantum de Broglie phases. This will be done for the first time by an application of Ramsey’s method of separated oscillating fields to the spectroscopy of the quantum states in the gravity potential above a horizontal mirror. Such measurements with ultra-cold neutrons will offer a sensitivity to Newton’s law or hypothetical short-ranged interactions, which is about 21 orders of magnitude below the energy scale of electromagnetism. Our approach explores therefore a region of parameter space that is complementary to the supermicron reach of upcoming microcantilever and torsion balance experiments.