Owing to the low-gravity conditions in space, space-borne laboratories enable experiments with extended free-fall times. Because Bose-Einstein condensates have an extremely low expansion energy, ...space-borne atom interferometers based on Bose-Einstein condensation have the potential to have much greater sensitivity to inertial forces than do similar ground-based interferometers. On 23 January 2017, as part of the sounding-rocket mission MAIUS-1, we created Bose-Einstein condensates in space and conducted 110 experiments central to matter-wave interferometry, including laser cooling and trapping of atoms in the presence of the large accelerations experienced during launch. Here we report on experiments conducted during the six minutes of in-space flight in which we studied the phase transition from a thermal ensemble to a Bose-Einstein condensate and the collective dynamics of the resulting condensate. Our results provide insights into conducting cold-atom experiments in space, such as precision interferometry, and pave the way to miniaturizing cold-atom and photon-based quantum information concepts for satellite-based implementation. In addition, space-borne Bose-Einstein condensation opens up the possibility of quantum gas experiments in low-gravity conditions
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Ultracold atom interferometry in space Lachmann, Maike D; Ahlers, Holger; Becker, Dennis ...
Nature communications,
02/2021, Letnik:
12, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) in free fall constitute a promising source for space-borne interferometry. Indeed, BECs enjoy a slowly expanding wave function, display a large spatial coherence and ...can be engineered and probed by optical techniques. Here we explore matter-wave fringes of multiple spinor components of a BEC released in free fall employing light-pulses to drive Bragg processes and induce phase imprinting on a sounding rocket. The prevailing microgravity played a crucial role in the observation of these interferences which not only reveal the spatial coherence of the condensates but also allow us to measure differential forces. Our work marks the beginning of matter-wave interferometry in space with future applications in fundamental physics, navigation and earth observation.
Quantum sensors based on coherent matter-waves are precise measurement devices whose ultimate accuracy is achieved with Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) in extended free fall. This is ideally ...realized in microgravity environments such as drop towers, ballistic rockets and space platforms. However, the transition from lab-based BEC machines to robust and mobile sources with comparable performance is a challenging endeavor. Here we report on the realization of a miniaturized setup, generating a flux of quantum degenerate 87Rb atoms every 1.6 s. Ensembles of atoms can be produced at a 1 Hz rate. This is achieved by loading a cold atomic beam directly into a multi-layer atom chip that is designed for efficient transfer from laser-cooled to magnetically trapped clouds. The attained flux of degenerate atoms is on par with current lab-based BEC experiments while offering significantly higher repetition rates. Additionally, the flux is approaching those of current interferometers employing Raman-type velocity selection of laser-cooled atoms. The compact and robust design allows for mobile operation in a variety of demanding environments and paves the way for transportable high-precision quantum sensors.
We report on an improved test of the Universality of Free Fall using a rubidium-potassium dual-species matter wave interferometer. We describe our apparatus and detail challenges and solutions ...relevant when operating a potassium interferometer, as well as systematic effects affecting our measurement. Our determination of the Eötvös ratio yields
η
Rb,K
= −1.9 × 10
−7
with a combined standard uncertainty of
σ
η
= 3.2 × 10
−7
.
Graphical abstract
•Population of space requires new production processes.•Einstein-Elevator: A unique facility for micro- and hypogravity research on earth.•Additive manufacturing can be performed in space ...substrate-free.
Through the striving of humanity into space, new production processes and technologies for the use under microgravity will be essential in the future. Production of objects in space demands for new processes, like additive manufacturing. This paper presents the concept and the realization for a new machine to investigate microgravity production processes on earth. The machine is based on linear long stator drives and a vacuum chamber carrying up to 1000 kg. For the first time high repetition rate and associated low experimental costs can provide basic research. The paper also introduces the substrate-free additive manufacturing as a future research topic and one of our primary application.
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). 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.
The high-fidelity analysis of many-body quantum states of indistinguishable atoms requires the accurate counting of atoms. Here we report the tomographic reconstruction of an atom-number-resolving ...detector. The tomography is performed with an ultracold rubidium ensemble that is prepared in a coherent spin state by driving a Rabi coupling between the two hyperfine clock levels. The coupling is followed by counting the occupation number in one level. We characterize the fidelity of our detector and show that a negative-valued Wigner function is associated with it. Our results offer an exciting perspective for the high-fidelity reconstruction of entangled states and can be applied for a future demonstration of Heisenberg-limited atom interferometry.
SAGE: A proposal for a space atomic gravity explorer Tino, Guglielmo M.; Bassi, Angelo; Bianco, Giuseppe ...
The European physical journal. D, Atomic, molecular, and optical physics,
11/2019, Letnik:
73, Številka:
11
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The proposed mission “Space Atomic Gravity Explorer” (SAGE) has the scientific objective to investigate gravitational waves, dark matter, and other fundamental aspects of gravity as well as the ...connection between gravitational physics and quantum physics using new quantum sensors, namely, optical atomic clocks and atom interferometers based on ultracold strontium atoms.
Graphical abstract
Optically trapped ensembles are of crucial importance for frequency measurements and quantum memories but generally suffer from strong dephasing due to inhomogeneous density and light shifts. We ...demonstrate a drastic increase of the coherence time to 21 s on the magnetic field insensitive clock transition of (87)Rb by applying the recently discovered spin self-rephasing C. Deutsch et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 020401 (2010). This result confirms the general nature of this new mechanism and thus shows its applicability in atom clocks and quantum memories. A systematic investigation of all relevant frequency shifts and noise contributions yields a stability of 2.4×10(-11)τ(-1/2), where τ is the integration time in seconds. Based on a set of technical improvements, the presented frequency standard is predicted to rival the stability of microwave fountain clocks in a potentially much more compact setup.
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