Research project B07 – SFB 1227 DQ-mat – Leibniz University Hannover

Introduction

In this project, we will advance metrology and test fundamental physics along four main axes in the recently completed Very Long Baseline Atom Interferometry (VLBAI) facility at the Hannover Institute of Technology (HITec). We will use time-averaged potentials to increase its duty cycle by creating and launching a multitude of ultra-cold clouds in rapid succession. Using the 10 m vacuum tube as a delay line, this generates a window in time during which a new ultra-cold ensemble can be reloaded and thus in principle offers dead-time free measurements. We will furthermore optimise large-momentum transfer beam splitting techniques based on Bragg and Bloch mechanisms in the vertical direction

Key components of the Hannover VLBAI facility

Results

The VLBAI facility at HITec is the pioneering instrument of its kind in Europe and with its completion we have laid the grounds for advancing the landscape of precision tests at the interface of quantum mechanics and general relativity using highly sensitive matter wave interferometry. It grants exciting possibilities for the investigation of quantum objects interacting with external gravitational fields across a 10 m vertical baseline with free evolution times of nearly three seconds in launch mode. Our apparatus features a high-performance magnetic shield protecting the phase evolution of matter waves in superposition from spurious forces and decoherence through technical noise. We have performed an extensive characterisation of the gravity environment surrounding the VLBAI facility and have implemented a state-of-the-art six-degrees-of-freedom seismic attenuation system (SAS) with the possibility to correlate atom interferometers with state-of-the-art auxiliary sensors for mitigation of vibrational noise.

We have recently implemented our all-optical source of rubidium Bose-Einstein condensates at the bottom end of the 10 m facility and the matter-wave interferometry laser systems allowing us to perform first atom-optical experiments. We were able to demonstrate record evaporation flux with evaporation ramps as short as 170 ms implemented a 2D matter-wave lens accessing the hundreds of picokelvin regime, and proposed a recipe towards ≤20 pK for the VLBAI facility.

Publications

First 1 2

Showing results 21 - 32 out of 32

Fitzek F, Siemß JN, Seckmeyer S, Ahlers H, Rasel EM, Hammerer K et al. Universal atom interferometer simulation of elastic scattering processes. Scientific Reports. 2020 Dec 17;10(1):22120. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-78859-1, 10.15488/10752

Gersemann M, Gebbe M, Abend S, Schubert C, Rasel EM. Differential interferometry using a Bose-Einstein condensate. European Physical Journal D. 2020 Oct 1;74(10):203. doi: 10.1140/epjd/e2020-10417-8

Hartmann S, Jenewein J, Giese E, Abend S, Roura A, Rasel EM et al. Regimes of atomic diffraction: Raman versus bragg diffraction in retroreflective geometries. Physical Review A. 2020 May 8;101(5):053610. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevA.101.053610

Loriani S, Schubert C, Schlippert D, Ertmer W, Pereira Dos Santos F, Rasel EM et al. Resolution of the colocation problem in satellite quantum tests of the universality of free fall. Physical Review D. 2020 Dec 18;102(12):124043. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.102.124043, 10.15488/10647

Richardson LL, Nath D, Rajagopalan A, Albers H, Meiners C, Schubert C et al. Opto-mechanical resonator-enhanced atom interferometry. Communications Physics. 2020 Nov 13;3(1):208. doi: 10.1038/s42005-020-00473-4

Schilling M, Wodey É, Timmen L, Tell D, Zipfel KH, Schlippert D et al. Gravity field modelling for the Hannover 10 m atom interferometer. Journal of Geodesy. 2020 Nov 27;94(12):122. doi: 10.1007/s00190-020-01451-y, 10.15488/10717

Siemß J-N, Fitzek F, Abend S, Rasel EM, Gaaloul N, Hammerer K. Analytic theory for Bragg atom interferometry based on the adiabatic theorem. Physical Review A. 2020 Sept 10;102(3):033709. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevA.102.033709

Ufrecht C, Pumpo FD, Friedrich A, Roura A, Schubert C, Schlippert D et al. Atom-interferometric test of the universality of gravitational redshift and free fall. Phys. Rev. Research. 2020 Nov 16;2(4):043240. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.043240

Wodey E, Tell D, Rasel EM, Schlippert D, Baur R, Kissling U et al. A scalable high-performance magnetic shield for very long baseline atom interferometry. Review of scientific instruments. 2020 Mar 19;91(3):035117. doi: 10.1063/1.5141340

Giese E, Friedrich A, Di Pumpo F, Roura A, Schleich WP, Greenberger DM et al. Proper time in atom interferometers: Diffractive versus specular mirrors. Physical Review A. 2019 Jan;99(1):013627. Epub 2019 Jan 30. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.1902.01188, 10.1103/PhysRevA.99.013627

Loriani Fard SL, Schlippert D, Schubert C, Abend S, Ahlers H, Ertmer W et al. Atomic source selection in space-borne gravitational wave detection. New Journal of Physics. 2019 Jun 21;21(6):063030. doi: 10.1088/1367-2630/ab22d0

Agarwal G, Allen RE, Bezděková I, Boyd RW, Chen G, Hanson R et al. Light, the universe and everything – 12 Herculean tasks for quantum cowboys and black diamond skiers. Journal of modern optics. 2018 Apr 24;65(11):1261-1308. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.1802.06110, 10.1080/09500340.2018.1454525

All publications of the Collaborative Research Centre

Overview