2nd Terrestrial Very-Long-Baseline Atom Interferometry Workshop

Session

Poster Session & Wine & Coffee

4 Apr 2024, 16:30

Imperial College - London

Conveners

Poster Session & Wine & Coffee

• Leonie Hawkins
• Elizabeth Pasatembou
• Thomas Walker

19. Alice Josset

04/04/2024, 16:50

The Atom Interferometer Observatory and Network (AION) detector is subject to a standard limit on its phase resolution due to quantum projection noise when the atomic superposition is collapsed. This limit needs to be overcome for the instrument to be sensitive to gravitational waves and ultra-light dark matter with reasonable atomic cloud sizes, requiring the creation of quantum correlations...

1. Ashkan Alibabaei

04/04/2024, 16:50

Poster

We investigate the fundamental limits of Large Momentum Transfer (LMT) Atom Interferometry by using the Bloch oscillations of atoms in optical lattices. A thorough theoretical framework for Bloch oscillation-enhanced atom interferometry is presented and validated through a comparison with numerical solutions of the Schrödinger equation. This establishes design criteria to reach the fundamental...

14. Chung Chuan Hsu

04/04/2024, 16:50

Poster

Dark matter and gravitational waves help us form a complete description of our understanding of the universe. However, specific subclasses remain elusive for current detectors. The Atom Interferometry Observatory and Network (AION), a consortium of UK institutes, aims to use atom interferometry in strontium to detect them. The sensitivity window of AION probes the millihertz regime where...

25. Daniel Derr, Enno Giese

04/04/2024, 16:50

Since the internal structure of atoms is possibly sensitive to dark matter (DM), atomic clocks may serve as suitable DM detectors and provide a platform for detecting violations of the Einstein equivalence principle (EEP). These features are not exclusive to atomic clocks, as atom interferometers can detect EEP violations as well, for example via gravimetry. The atomic diffraction processes...

20. Elizabeth Pasatembou

04/04/2024, 16:50

Poster

This study harnesses the exceptional precision of atomic clocks, with uncertainties at least as small as a part in 10^18, to test the boundaries of fundamental physics. By comparing the transition frequencies of different species of atomic clocks can provide constraints on temporal variations in Standard Model fundamental constants, e.g. the proton-to-electron mass ratio (μ) and the fine...

21. Florentina Pislan

04/04/2024, 16:50

Poster

Ever since the first detection of gravitational waves in 2015 by LIGO and VIRGO collaborations, it became a certitude that they represent important messengers of the most violent and energetic astrophysical processes and of the primordial Universe.
Current and future gravitational wave detectors are designed to cover a broad spectrum of frequencies, from high (10 Hz to 103 Hz) to very low (<...

8. Gedminas Elertas

04/04/2024, 16:50

Poster

MAGIS and AION are long baseline strontium atom interferometry experiments. Both projects will search for the ultralight dark matter fields and lead the technology for a future kilometre-scale detector that would be sensitive to gravitational waves from known sources. To achieve this, MAGIS 100 and AION should demonstrate the shot-noise limited detection, the ability to launch atoms for tens...

3. Hannah Banks

04/04/2024, 16:50

Poster

We propose the nuclear interferometer - a single photon interferometry experiment based upon the nuclear clock transition in neutral thorium atoms - as a novel detector for ultra-light dark matter (ULDM). Thanks to the enhanced sensitivity of this transition to the variation of fundamental constants, we find that modest scale experiments have the potential to match or even improve the...

7. Jiajun Chen, Yijun Tang

04/04/2024, 16:50

Poster

The AION detector requires the delivery of ultracold strontium with a fast repetition rate and large atom number, at the lowest possible temperatures. We will report on our recent progress in developing simulations and experimental techniques for efficient cooling and transport of strontium atoms. Our transport scheme is based on focus-tuneable lenses to dynamically control the focus size and...

6. John Carlton

04/04/2024, 16:50

Poster

Atom interferometers are powerful new tools for probing many aspects of fundamental physics including searches for gravitational waves and dark matter. The construction of several long-baseline terrestrial atom interferometer experiments is underway and thus fully characterising the noise these experiments are subject to is of paramount importance. Gravity gradient noise (GGN) from seismic...

22. Jonathan Ramwell (Toptica)

04/04/2024, 16:50

Small table-top display for Toptica

10. Jordan Gué

04/04/2024, 16:50

We present a theoretical investigation of the expected experimental signals produced by freely falling atoms with time oscillating mass and transition frequency. These oscillations could be produced in a variety of models, in particular, models of scalar dark matter (DM) non universally coupled to the standard matter (SM) such as axion-like particles (ALP) and dilatons. Performing complete and...

18. Junjie Jiang

04/04/2024, 16:50

Poster

As a fundamental assumption of general relativity, the test of the equivalence principle plays a key role in exploring the applicability of the physical framework and seeking new physics. In 2015, we developed the four-wave double-diffraction Raman transition (4WDR) method and tested the equivalence principle for 85Rb-87Rb [1], and in 2021 further expanded to the joint mass and energy test of...

15. Kamran Hussain

04/04/2024, 16:50

Poster

AION (Atom Interferometer Observatory and Network) and MAGIS (Matter-wave Atomic Gradiometer Interferometric Sensor) are a consortium of strontium atom interferometry experiments, with the science goals of probing gravitational waves in the mid-band detection region between 0.1-10 Hz and to search for ultra-light dark matter candidates. MAGIS is currently constructing the 100 m vertical...

2. Leonardo Badurina

04/04/2024, 16:50

In this study, we extend the physics case of future terrestrial very-long baseline and space-based atom gradiometers by considering the reach of such experiments to ultra-heavy dark matter with masses exceeding the Planck scale. We study the phase-shift signatures in a coordinate-invariant fashion and find three distinct contributions that would be measurable in experiments such as AION, MAGIS...

13. Leonie Hawkins

04/04/2024, 16:50

Poster

A previously decommissioned frequency standard fountain, repurposed for atom interferometry at the National Physical Laboratory with the University of Liverpool, has been relocated to Liverpool and is currently in operation with an upgraded laser system. The device will serve as a prototype detector to test for fundamental physics concepts beyond the standard model and can act as a test stand...

16. Ludovico Iannizzotto Venezze

04/04/2024, 16:50

Atomic clocks have a remarkable precision below 10-18, making them well suited for studies of fundamental physics. For example, we can use clocks to search for ultra-light scalar dark matter by probing variations in the fine structure constant. Constraints on dark matter's coupling strength with normal matter have already been published with the use of different clocks and the field is now...

17. Maria Isfan

04/04/2024, 16:50

Poster

"The detection of gravitational waves is an area of active research, with important upcoming missions that will listen to gravity from space. The future datasets coming from these missions are expected to be large and complex, creating the need for the development of improved data analysis tools, able to extract meaningful information from gravitational wave data. Here, we present our approach...

24. Michael Werner

04/04/2024, 16:50

Poster

Atom interferometers (IFs) are highly accurate sensors of gravitational fields and their gradients, and are increasingly important for applications in industry and geodesy. Asenbaum et al. [2017] have investigated the 'tidal phase' that arises in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) from the interplay of the gravitational gradient and atomic recoil. The tidal phase was extracted in a...

9. Oliver Ennis

04/04/2024, 16:50

Poster

As part of the AION consortium, the University of Birmingham is investigating the enhancement of large momentum transfer (LMT). The sensitivity goals for AION aim for LMT which is an improvement of a factor of over 500 times the current state of the art for strontium. Modelling suggests that hybrid solutions are required which utilise various advanced techniques simultaneously, including...

26. Sebastian Wald

04/04/2024, 16:50

Poster

Entangled Mach-Zehnder type Atom Interferometer in an optical, propagating-wave cavity In our experiment, an optical, propagating wave cavity mediates entanglement of the atomic ensemble and it supports the Raman beam splitter operation, while keeping the atoms trapped during the whole interferometer sequence. We present the experimental parameters of the cavity that enable the generation of...

4. Selyan Beldjoudi

04/04/2024, 16:50

We present a novel approach to achieve Large Momentum Transfer (LMT) through stroboscopic stabilization of a Floquet state in an accelerated optical lattice. Using optimal control protocols, we prepare the Floquet state, enabling fast LMT and significantly improving the efficiency of the beam splitter. Using this technique, we demonstrate an atom interferometer with a maximum momentum...

12. Simon Hack

04/04/2024, 16:50

Poster

We are currently setting up a lattice atom interferometer, which coherently levitates the atomic wave function allowing us to circumvent the limitation given by the gravitational free fall time of the atoms. By holding a spatial superposition of K-39 atoms in a cavity enhanced optical lattice, ultra-long interaction times on the minute scale can be achieved. Furthermore, with this setup we...

23. Thomas Walker

04/04/2024, 16:50

Poster

Atom interferometers are limited in resolution by quantum projection noise, and so require high atomic flux. Here we present the designs for a ultracold strontium source for atom interferometry and optical atomic clock experiments. The design is focused on yielding a high atomic flux while minimising size, weight, and power consumption.
The system will include a vacuum chamber for Zeeman...

11. Vishu Gupta

04/04/2024, 16:50

Poster

"The Very Long Baseline Atom Interferometry (VLBAI) facility at the Hannover Institute of Technology opens up exciting possibilities for highly precise inertial measurements, with applications spanning from fundamental physics to geodesy. The 10-meter baseline facility, equipped with Bose-Einstein Condensates (BECs) and a high-performance Seismic Attenuation System (SAS), holds tremendous...