Cavity-based atom interferometry for testing gravity and dark-sector physic

该项目将开创原子与100克质量之间引力相互作用的新测量方法。为了进行灵敏的测量，该项目将使用原子干涉仪来研究重力如何影响原子的量子相。新的引力物理测试对于研究暗能量和暗物质的性质，从而理解宇宙的历史和命运至关重要。精确的重力测量还可以改善军事和商业导航，并有助于研究矿藏和地下含水层等地下资源。这个项目将培养学生开发先进的原子干涉测量技术，这些技术将在原子和分子物理、导航和引力的基础研究中有许多应用。相对于其他自然基本力来说，引力是如此微弱，这使得它相对难以捉摸。例如，目前还不能测量两个原子之间的引力相互作用。这是更好地理解假设的新力量的主要障碍，这些新力量可能来自宇宙学暗能量(被认为推动了宇宙的加速膨胀)和微观世界中的引力效应，在微观世界中，量子力学定律适用。这个研究小组建造了第一台仪器(原子干涉仪)，能够测量单个原子和微小(直径1英寸)源质量之间的引力。在这个项目中，他们将使用这种独特的仪器进行几个新的实验。首先，他们将利用它来寻找证据，证明宇宙暗能量可能会对引力进行微小的修正。这将缩小微观实验(对撞机、原子结构、原子和中子干涉仪)和宏观实验(扭转天平和太阳系物理)的参数空间中存在的差距。其次，他们将改进仪器，将原子的相干时间延长到10秒，这将是任何物质波干涉仪中展示的最长的时间。然后，该仪器将被用来演示引力Aharonov-Bohm效应，这是一种重力对粒子量子态的影响，只有通过原子干涉仪等量子传感器才能观察到。

This project will pioneer new measurements of the gravitational interaction between atoms and a 100-gram mass. To make sensitive measurements, this project will use an atom interferometer to study how gravity affects the quantum phase of atoms. New tests of gravitational physics are crucial for studying the nature of Dark Energy and Dark Matter, and thus understanding the history and fate of the universe. Precise measurements of gravity can also improve military and commercial navigation, and help study underground resources such as mineral ore deposits and groundwater aquifers. This project will train students to develop advanced atom interferometry technology that will have many applications in atomic and molecular physics, navigation, and fundamental studies of gravity.The fact that gravity is so weak relative to the other fundamental forces of nature has made it relatively elusive. For example, gravitational interactions between two individual atoms cannot yet be measured. This is a major obstacle for gaining a better understanding of hypothetical new forces that could arise from cosmological dark energy (which is thought to drive the accelerated expansion of the universe) and the effects of gravity in the microscopic world, where the laws of quantum mechanics apply. This research team has built the first instrument (an atom interferometer) able to measure the gravitational force between individual atoms and a miniature (1-inch diameter) source mass. For this project they will apply this unique instrument to perform several new experiments. First, they will use it to look for evidence for small corrections to the gravitational force that might arise as a consequence of cosmological Dark Energy. This will close the gap that exists in the parameter space between results from microscopic experiments (colliders, atomic structure, and atom and neutron interferometers) and macroscopic ones (torsion balances and solar system physics). Second, they will improve the instrument by extending the coherence time of the atoms to 10 seconds, which would be the longest demonstrated in any matter-wave interferometer. The instrument will then be used to demonstrate the gravitational Aharonov-Bohm effect, an effect of gravity on the quantum state of a particle, which can only be observed with a quantum sensor such as an atom interferometer.