Tests of gravity and quantum mechanics using atom interferometry

Promotional image for talk: Elements of a successful scientific talk

Speaker(s): Jason Hogan (’03)

Precision atom interferometry is poised to become a powerful tool for discovery in fundamental physics. Towards this end, I will describe recent, record-breaking atom interferometry experiments performed in a 10-meter drop tower that demonstrate long-lived quantum superposition states with macroscopic spatial separations. The potential of this type of sensor is only beginning to be realized, and the ongoing march toward higher sensitivity can enable a diverse science impact, including laboratory tests of general relativity and the equivalence principle, searches for dark matter, probes of quantum mechanics, and detection of gravitational waves. With the recent LIGO results, gravitational wave astronomy is particularly compelling since it provides a new window into the universe, collecting information about astrophysical systems and cosmology that is difficult or impossible to acquire by other methods. Atom interferometric gravitational wave detection offers a number of advantages over traditional approaches, including simplified detector geometries, access to low frequencies that are complementary to LIGO, and substantially reduced antenna baselines.

Colloquium

Junior and senior physics majors attend our biweekly colloquium series, held on Tuesday afternoons at 4:30 p.m. in Shanahan B460. The talks are open to all students and to the public, and are frequently attended by scientists from the other Claremont Colleges, Cal Poly Pomona, and others. The series features speakers from a broad range of institutions and fields of physics.