Resonator with ultra-high length stability as a probe for Equivalence-Principle-violating physics

Abstract

In order to investigate the long-term dimensional stability of matter, we have operated an optical resonator fabricated from crystalline silicon at 1.5K continuously for over one year and repeatedly compared its resonance frequency $f_{res}$ with the frequency of a GPS-monitored hydrogen maser. After allowing for an initial settling time, over a 163-day interval we found a mean fractional drift magnitude $|f_{res}^{-1}d{f}_{res}/dt|<1.4\times 10^{-20}$/s. The resonator frequency is determined by the physical length and the speed of light, and we measure it with respect to the atomic unit of time. Thus, the bound rules out, to first order, a hypothetical differential effect of the universe's expansion on rulers and atomic clocks. We also constrain a hypothetical violation of the principle of Local Position Invariance for resonator-based clocks and derive bounds for the strength of space-time fluctuations.

arXiv commentto appear in Physical Review Letters (2016)

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• Quantum noise and its evasion in feedback oscillators
• Mechanical loss and stability analysis of NEXCERA in ultra-stable optical cavities
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