General Relativistic Effects in Atom Interferometry

By S. Dimopoulos, P. Graham, Jason M. Hogan, M. Kasevich. 2008

166 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Atom interferometry is now reaching sufficient precision to motivate laboratory tests of general relativity. We begin by explaining the non-relativistic calculation of the phase shift in an atom interferometer and deriving its range of validity. From this we develop a method for calculating the phase shift in general relativity. This formalism is then used to find the relativistic effects in an atom interferometer in a weak gravitational field for application to laboratory tests of general relativity. The potentially testable relativistic effects include the non-linear three-graviton coupling, the gravity of kinetic energy, and the falling of light. We propose experiments, one currently under construction, that could provide a test of the principle of equivalence to 1 part in 10{sup 15} (300 times better than the present limit), and general relativity at the 10% level, with many potential future improvements. We also consider applications to other metrics including the Lense-Thirring effect, the expansion of the universe, and preferred frame and location effects.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/36bf784377261a9108ad566b12e5625565df8ab0

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Citations in the corpus

AION: an atom interferometer observatory and network (2019, methodology): “The leading higher-order effects include those due to the potential gradient, corrections due to the finite speed of light, and Döppler effects on the photon frequency [19].”
AEDGE: Atomic Experiment for Dark Matter and Gravity Exploration in Space (2019, background): “, [75], and universally-coupled Yukawa-type fifth forces over these scales are already well constrained by classical searches for fifth forces [76]; • Tests of general relativity: A set-up with atom interferometers at different values of the gravitational potential also facilitates measurements of h”
Equivalence Principle Violations and Couplings of a Light Dilaton (2010, methodology): “[8] mentions the possibility of comparing two isotopes of Rubidium: (85Rb,87Rb).”
Quantum test of the Universality of Free Fall using rubidium and potassium (2020, methodology): “[60–65] with the following assumptions for Rb (K): Temperature – 21 μK (28 μK) with a 10 % uncertainty; Initial size – 1 mm (1 mm); π-pulse width – 15 μs (15 μs); Free evolution time – 41 ms (41 ms); Time-of-flight prior to the 1 interferometry pulse – 54.”
Fundamental quantum optics experiments conceivable with satellites—reaching relativistic distances and velocities (2012, background): “Unfortunately, the necessary precision in the relative phase between these detectors is so high (∆γa ≈ 10−3 to 10−5) that Earth’s gravity can interfere with the reading of the atomic interferometer required for detection [1]: the interferometer could be sensitive to variations in the gravitational f”