Antimatter interferometry for gravity measurements

Abstract

We describe a light-pulse atom interferometer that is suitable for any species of atom and even for electrons and protons as well as their antiparticles, in particular for testing the Einstein equivalence principle with antihydrogen. The design obviates the need for resonant lasers through far-off resonant Bragg beam splitters and makes efficient use of scarce atoms by magnetic confinement and atom recycling. We expect to reach an initial accuracy of better than 1% for the acceleration of free fall of antihydrogen, which can be improved to the part-per million level.

5 pages, 4 figures. Minor changes, accepted for PRL

References in corpus (9)

• Atom Interferometers
• New determination of the fine structure constant and test of the quantum electrodynamics
• 6-axis inertial sensor using cold-atom interferometry
• Matter-gravity couplings and Lorentz violation
• Atom Interferometry with up to 24-Photon-Momentum-Transfer Beam Splitters
• Prospects for Large Relativity Violations in Matter-Gravity Couplings
• A Kapitza-Dirac-Talbot-Lau interferometer for highly polarizable molecules
• Equivalence Principle and Bound Kinetic Energy
• State of the art in the determination of the fine structure constant: test of Quantum Electrodynamics and determination of h/mu

Cited by in corpus (26)

• Test of Einstein Equivalence Principle for 0-spin and half-integer-spin atoms: Search for spin-gravity coupling effects
• Testing gravity with cold atom interferometry: Results and prospects
• Lorentz and CPT tests with hydrogen, antihydrogen, and related systems
• Testing the universality of free fall with rubidium and ytterbium in a very large baseline atom interferometer
• Atom interferometry in an optical cavity
• Precision Gravity Tests and the Einstein Equivalence Principle
• High-resolution atom interferometers with suppressed diffraction phases
• An atomically thin matter-wave beamsplitter
• Lorentz and CPT Tests with Clock-Comparison Experiments
• Searches for beyond-Riemann gravity
• Toward inertial sensing with a monochromatic $2^{3}S$ positronium beam
• Zero-velocity atom interferometry using a retroreflected frequency chirped laser
• Direct frequency comb laser cooling and trapping
• The anti-proton charge radius
• Differential atom interferometry with ${}^{87}$Rb and ${}^{85}$Rb for testing the UFF in STE-QUEST
• Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) Magnetometry with a Plasma Reservoir
• Matter-wave interferometry: towards antimatter interferometers
• Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry - Aspects at Low Energy
• Limitations for field-enhanced atom interferometry
• Testing Fundamental Physics in Antihydrogen Experiments
• Using stochastic acceleration to place experimental limits on the charge of antihydrogen
• Quantum mechanics, matter waves, and moving clocks
• Simulated optical molasses cooling of trapped antihydrogen
• Gravity Effects on Antimatter in the Standard-Model Extension
• Antimatter-Gravity Couplings, and Lorentz Symmetry
• First observation of antimatter wave interference