A new photon recoil experiment: towards a determination of the fine structure constant

Müller, Holger; Chiow, Sheng‐wey; Long, Quan; Vo, Christoph; Chu, Steven

doi:10.1007/s00340-006-2279-x

Cited by 44 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The Doppler shift and finite speed of light corrections (terms 4 and 5) were known and frequently arranged to cancel each other in a 'symmetric' interferometer [49]. The recoil shift k 2 eff m T 3 ∂ r g was known and measured [50,51]. The 8th, 18th through 20th, 23rd, 27th, and 30th terms arise only from GR and are not present in the results of our Newtonian calculation.…”

Section: B General Relativistic Effects and Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

General Relativistic Effects in Atom Interferometry

Dimopoulos¹,

Graham²,

Hogan³

et al. 2008

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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 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.

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Section: B General Relativistic Effects and Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

General Relativistic Effects in Atom Interferometry

Dimopoulos¹,

Graham²,

Hogan³

et al. 2008

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“…Among the various types of coherent beam splitters developed for matter wave manipulation [7,8,9,10,11], two photon transitions have proven to be powerful tools for precise measurements. For instance, atom interferometers based on Bragg transitions [8] can be used for polarisability [12] and fundamental measurements [13]. Stimulated Raman transitions [14] allowed the development of high precision inertial sensors [15,16,17,18], whose performances compete with state of the art instruments [19,20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of lasers propagation delay on the sensitivity of atom interferometers

et al. 2007

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In atom interferometers based on two photon transitions, the delay induced by the difference of the laser beams paths makes the interferometer sensitive to the fluctuations of the frequency of the lasers. We first study, in the general case, how the laser frequency noise affects the performance of the interferometer measurement. Our calculations are compared with the measurements performed on our cold atom gravimeter based on stimulated Raman transitions. We finally extend this study to the case of cold atom gradiometers.

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“…We use this to demonstrate a 2,500-fold increase in the enclosed space-time area of interferometers with 20-photon momentum transfer, without a reduction in contrast. This paves the path towards strongly enhanced sensitivity in measurements of fundamental constants [8,9,15], tests of general relativity [1] or the equivalence principle [10], and detection of gravitational waves [16].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Noise-Immune Conjugate Large-Area Atom Interferometers

et al. 2009

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We present a pair of simultaneous conjugate Ramsey-Bordé atom interferometers (SCI) using large (20hk)-momentum transfer (LMT) beam splitters, wherehk is the photon momentum. Simultaneous operation allows for common-mode rejection of vibrational noise. This allows us to surpass the enclosed space-time area of previous interferometers with a splitting of 20hk by a factor of 2,500.Among applications, we demonstrate a 3.4 ppb resolution in the fine structure constant and discuss tests of fundamental laws of physics.

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A new photon recoil experiment: towards a determination of the fine structure constant

Cited by 44 publications

References 37 publications

General Relativistic Effects in Atom Interferometry

General Relativistic Effects in Atom Interferometry

Influence of lasers propagation delay on the sensitivity of atom interferometers

Noise-Immune Conjugate Large-Area Atom Interferometers

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