Short range force sensing with a trapped atom interferometer

Franck Pereira Dos Santos (SYRTE, Paris)

Feb 16. 2023, 14:15 — 14:40

I will present recent results on quantum sensing of short-range forces with a force sensor based on trapped atom interferometry. Ultracold atoms are first transported with a Bloch elevator close to the surface of a dielectric mirror before being trapped in a vertical lattice. Raman pulses are then used to split the atoms across different wells and recombine them, creating a Ramsey-type interferometer. The phase of the interferometer depends on the difference of potential energy between neighbouring wells, and thus on the force exerted on the atoms. We measure an attractive force of order of 10-27 N when bringing the atoms at a few micrometers from the surface, larger than the expected Casimir Polder force of about 4 10-28 N, the difference being most probably due to parasitic electric fields created by adsorbed atoms. The stability of the local force measurement reaches 6 10-28 N at 1s measurement time, which averages down to about 2 10-29 N at 2000 s, which corresponds to about 5% of the Casimir Polder force.

Further Information
Venue:
ESI Boltzmann Lecture Hall
Recordings:
Recording
Associated Event:
Blackbody Radiation Induced Effects and Phenomena (Workshop)
Organizer(s):
Philipp Haslinger (TU Vienna)
Francesco Intravaia (HU Berlin)
Arkadiusz Kosior (U of Innsbruck)
Dennis Rätzel (ZARM, Bremen)