Resolution of the colocation problem in satellite quantum tests of the universality of free fall

authored by: Sina Loriani, Christian Schubert, Dennis Schlippert, Wolfgang Ertmer, Franck Pereira Dos Santos, Ernst Maria Rasel, Naceur Gaaloul, Peter Wolf
Abstract: A major challenge common to all Galilean drop tests of the universality of free fall (UFF) is the required control over the initial kinematics of the two test masses upon release due to coupling to gravity gradients and rotations. In this work, we consider a space-borne test of the UFF based on atom interferometry and show that this detrimental effect can be mitigated at the 10-18 level given an initial differential position (velocity) uncertainty in the order of μm (μm/s) of the test masses. This corresponds to a relaxation of the source control by several orders of magnitude with respect to comparable mission scenarios, such as the STE-QUEST mission proposal reported in [D. N. Aguilera et al., Classical Quantum Gravity 31, 115010 (2014)CQGRDG0264-938110.1088/0264-9381/31/11/115010]. Our twofold mitigation strategy extends a compensation mechanism that is already established in terrestrial experiments to satellite missions with varying gravity gradients and exploits the spectral distribution of the systematics. We assess the experimental feasibility and find that the moderate parameters of the proposed scheme are in line with technological capabilities. The described attenuation of the gravity-gradient-induced uncertainty removes one major obstacle in quantum tests of the UFF and allows us to consider mission scenarios with target accuracies beyond the state of the art.
Organisation(s): Institute of Quantum Optics
QuantumFrontiers
CRC 1227 Designed Quantum States of Matter (DQ-mat)
External Organisation(s): German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Observatoire de Paris (OBSPARIS)
Type: Article
Journal: Physical Review D
Volume: 102
ISSN: 2470-0010
Publication date: 18.12.2020
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)
Electronic version(s): https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.08729 (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.102.124043 (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.15488/10647 (Access: Open)

BibTeX

@article{58ea1f1e423e469d966405a7a36e9fb3,
title = "Resolution of the colocation problem in satellite quantum tests of the universality of free fall",
abstract = "A major challenge common to all Galilean drop tests of the universality of free fall (UFF) is the required control over the initial kinematics of the two test masses upon release due to coupling to gravity gradients and rotations. In this work, we consider a space-borne test of the UFF based on atom interferometry and show that this detrimental effect can be mitigated at the 10-18 level given an initial differential position (velocity) uncertainty in the order of μm (μm/s) of the test masses. This corresponds to a relaxation of the source control by several orders of magnitude with respect to comparable mission scenarios, such as the STE-QUEST mission proposal reported in [D. N. Aguilera et al., Classical Quantum Gravity 31, 115010 (2014)CQGRDG0264-938110.1088/0264-9381/31/11/115010]. Our twofold mitigation strategy extends a compensation mechanism that is already established in terrestrial experiments to satellite missions with varying gravity gradients and exploits the spectral distribution of the systematics. We assess the experimental feasibility and find that the moderate parameters of the proposed scheme are in line with technological capabilities. The described attenuation of the gravity-gradient-induced uncertainty removes one major obstacle in quantum tests of the UFF and allows us to consider mission scenarios with target accuracies beyond the state of the art.",
keywords = "quant-ph, gr-qc, physics.atom-ph",
author = "Sina Loriani and Christian Schubert and Dennis Schlippert and Wolfgang Ertmer and {Pereira Dos Santos}, Franck and Rasel, {Ernst Maria} and Naceur Gaaloul and Peter Wolf",
note = "Funding Information: We acknowledge discussions with Holger Ahlers, Robin Corgier, Pac{\^o}me Delva, Florian Fitzek, Christine Guerlin, Thomas Hensel, H{\'e}l{\`e}ne Pihan Le-Bars, Albert Roura, Etienne Savalle, Jan-Niclas Siem{\ss}, Christian Ufrecht, and {\'E}tienne Wodey. Moreover, we acknowledge financial support from DFG through CRC 1227 (DQ-mat), Projects No. B07 and No. A05. The presented work is also supported by CRC 1128 geo-Q and the German Space Agency (DLR) with funds provided by the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) due to an enactment of the German Bundestag under Grants No. 50WM1641 and No. 50WM2060. Furthermore, we acknowledge financial support from ”Nieders{\"a}chsisches Vorab” through the ”Quantum- and Nano- Metrology (QUANOMET)” initiative within the project QT3 and through ”F{\"o}rderung von Wissenschaft und Technik in Forschung und Lehre” for the initial funding of research in the new DLR-SI Institute. Moreover, this work was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germanys Excellence Strategy EXC-2123 QuantumFrontiers Grant No. 390837967. S. L. wishes to acknowledge IP@Leibniz, a program of Leibniz Universit{\"a}t Hannover promoted by the German Academic Exchange Service and funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. D. S. gratefully acknowledges funding by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through the funding program Photonics Research Germany under Contract No. 13N14875.",
year = "2020",
month = dec,
day = "18",
doi = "10.1103/PhysRevD.102.124043",
language = "English",
volume = "102",
journal = "Physical Review D",
issn = "2470-0010",
publisher = "American Institute of Physics",
number = "12",
}