Bose-Einstein condensates in microgravity and fundamental tests of gravity

Abstract

Light-pulse atom interferometers are highly sensitive to inertial and gravitational effects. As such they are promising candidates for tests of gravitational physics. In this article the state-of-the-art and proposals for fundamental tests of gravity are reviewed. They include the measurement of the gravitational constant G, tests of the weak equivalence principle, direct searches of dark energy and gravitational-wave detection. Particular emphasis is put on long-time interferometry in microgravity environments accompanied by an enormous increase of sensitivity. In addition, advantages as well as disadvantages of Bose-Einstein condensates as atom sources are discussed.

Microgravity facilities for cold atom experiments

“…By combining the use of suitable spatially periodic mass sources and atom interferometers with multiloop geometries, one can achieve large sensitivities to the effects of chameleon and symmetron fields while mitigating the effects of rotations and gravity gradients [50,107]. Indeed, atom interferometers involving an even number of loops suppress the main contribution of rotations and when combined with a suitable frequency change of the intermediate pulses [95], gravity gradients can also be compensated.…”