Ultrasensitive Measurements of Forces Using Laser-Cooled Atoms

精确了解支配和塑造我们宇宙的基本力量，不仅对基础科学至关重要，对技术突破也至关重要。本提案为一项广泛的研究计划寻求运营资金，该计划利用冷原子对各种基本力进行精确测量。该提案的主要科学目标是：精确测量重力加速度g，精确测量电磁力强度（精细结构常数）和精确测量原子的磁性（g因子比）。这些实验最近达到了基准，表明在不久的将来可以实现高影响精度的研究。特别是，将开发一种独特的冷原子干涉仪（AI），用于测量g。这将使目前的测量精度从十亿分之125 （ppb）提高到具有国际竞争力的1 ppb水平。这一举措得到了一个工业合作伙伴的支持，该合作伙伴是商业重力仪的领先制造商，重力仪测量重力的设备广泛应用于石油和矿产勘探，地震监测和潮汐图校正。同样的人工智能最近展示了与广为人知的拉曼人工智能相当的测量时间尺度，并在测量原子反冲频率时实现了37 ppb的精度，原子反冲频率与原子精细结构常数有关，这是一个定义光-物质相互作用强度的耦合参数。我们建议减少系统影响，实现~1 ppb的精度。申请人的小组最近对一类特殊的磁相互作用进行了最灵敏的测量。通过改进实验，进一步提高了实验精度，避免了系统效应。主要的商业和技术成果包括：1)实现了基于申请人开发的自动锁定激光器的新一代重力仪和校准商用重力仪的新技术2)开发了加拿大第一个基于铷的原子钟3)开发了用于污染监测和行星大气探测的激光雷达发射机的自动锁定激光器。

Precise knowledge of the basic forces that govern and shape our universe is of paramount importance not only for fundamental science, but also for technological breakthroughs. This proposal seeks operational funding for a broad research program utilizing cold atoms for the precision measurements of a variety of basic forces. The main scientific goals of the proposal are: precision measurement of the gravitational acceleration g, precision measurement of the strength of the electromagnetic force (the fine-structure constant) and the precision measurement of the magnetic properties of atoms (g-factor ratios). These experiments have recently achieved benchmarks that suggest that high impact precision studies are realizable in the near future. In particular, a unique, cold atom interferometer (AI) will be developed for measurements of g. This will enable the current measurement precision of 125 parts per billion (ppb) to reach internationally competitive levels of 1 ppb. This initiative is supported by an industrial partner who is the leading manufacturer of commercial gravimeters, devices that measure g for widespread applications such as oil and mineral prospecting, seismic monitoring and correction of tidal charts. The same AI recently demonstrated measurement time scales comparable to the widely known Raman AIs and realized a precision of 37 ppb in measurements of the atomic recoil frequency, a quantity that is related to the atomic fine-structure constant, a coupling parameter that defines the strength of light-matter interactions. We propose to reduce systematic effects and realize a precision of ~1 ppb. The applicant's group has recently made the most sensitive measurement of a particular class of magnetic interactions. Using a refined experiment we propose to further improve the precision and avoid systematic effects. The main commercial and technological outcomes include: 1) Realization of a new generation of gravimeters based on auto-locked lasers developed by the applicant and new techniques for calibrating commercial gravimeters 2) Development of Canada's first rubidium-based atomic clock 3) Development of auto-locked lasers as LIDAR transmitters for pollution monitoring and exploration of planetary atmospheres.