Overview
Atom interferometry is a novel quantum sensor technology that uses ultra-cold atoms placed in entangled quantum states in order to detect minute changes in local fields arising from gravitational waves and ultra-light dark matter. They are extremely sensitive to accelerations and have been demonstrated for measurements of Newton’s gravitation constant, tests of the Equivalence Principle, and measurement of local gravity gradients [1-3]. The search for ultralight dark matter and measurements of gravitational waves requires interferometer baselines greater than approximately 100 m. In understanding the fundamental systematics and backgrounds of these detectors, we have discovered that atmospheric and seismic effects, even though physically decoupled from the atoms which are in vacuum and free-fall, are still detectable by the quantum phase of the atoms as was also shown for current generation laser interferometers [4-7]. From a different perspective these “noise” sources are also interesting signals that we may be able to understand better with these new sensor platforms. For example, the MIGA collaboration has investigated environmental impacts for long-baseline detectors [8].
Scope
To elucidate the impact of atom interferometers as environmental sensors and to develop better simulations of the detector response we will bring together the expertise of the Earth Sciences and atom interferometry communities. Together with the scientists of the Cavendish Laboratory leading large-scale atom interferometry collaborations (MAGIS-100 [9] in the US and AION [10] in the UK), the workshop will gather experimental and theoretical experts in geophysics and modelling and international experts in atom interferometry leading large-scale interferometry collaborations worldwide.
Organizing Committee
Chair: Jeremiah Mitchell, University of Cambridge, UK
Co-Chair: Valerie Gibson, University of Cambridge, UK
Kai Bongs, University of Birmingham, UK
Philippe Bouyer, CNRS, Institut d’Optique, France
Oliver Buchmuller, Imperial College London, UK, CERN
John Ellis, King's College London, UK, CERN
Jason Hogan, Stanford University, US
Michael Holynski, University of Birmingham, UK
Mike Kendall, University of Oxford, UK
Timothy Kovachy, Northwestern University, US
Ernst Rasel, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany
Nicholas Rawlinson, University of Cambridge, UK
References
[1] Bongs, K. et al. Taking atom interferometric quantum sensors from the laboratory to real-world applications. Nat Rev Phys 1, 731–739 (2019).
[2] Overstreet, C. et al. Effective inertial frame in an atom interferometric test of the equivalence principle. Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 183604 (2018).
[3] Asenbaum, P. et al. Phase Shift in an Atom Interferometer due to Spacetime Curvature across its Wave Function. Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 183602 (2017).
[4] Mitchell, J., Kovachy, T., Hahn, S., Adamson, P. & Chattopadhyay, S. MAGIS-100 Environmental Characterization and Noise Analysis. J. Inst. 17, E02001 (2022).
[5] Badurina, L., Gibson, V., McCabe, C. & Mitchell, J. Ultralight dark matter searches at the sub-Hz frontier with atom multi-gradiometry. Preprint at https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2211.01854 (2022).
[6] Harms, J. Terrestrial gravity fluctuations. Living Rev Relativ 22, 6 (2019).
[7] Schubert, C. et al. Scalable, symmetric atom interferometer for infrasound gravitational wave detection. Preprint at http://arxiv.org/abs/1909.01951 (2019).
[8] Canuel, B. et al. MIGA: Combining laser and matter wave interferometry for mass distribution monitoring and advanced geodesy. arXiv:1604.02072 [gr-qc, physics:physics] 990008 (2016) doi:10.1117/12.2228825.
[9] Abe, M. et al. Matter-wave Atomic Gradiometer Interferometric Sensor (MAGIS-100). Quantum Sci. Technol. 6, 044003 (2021).
[10] Badurina, L. et al. AION: An Atom Interferometer Observatory and Network. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 2020, 011–011 (2020).