Dresden 2011 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help
Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 25: Matter Wave Optics
Q 25.7: Talk
Wednesday, March 16, 2011, 12:00–12:15, BAR Schön
A dual species matter-wave interferometer in microgravity — •Jan Rudolph1, Ernst Maria Rasel1, and the QUANTUS Team2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 — 1Institut für Quantenoptik, LU Hannover — 2ZARM, Universität Bremen — 3Institut für Physik, HU Berlin — 4Institut für Laser-Physik, Universität Hamburg — 5Institut für Quantenphysik, Universität Ulm — 6Institut für angewandte Physik, TU Darmstadt — 7MUARC, University of Birmingham — 8FBH, Berlin — 9MPQ, Garching
The QUANTUS-II apparatus is a matter-wave interferometer that is designed to operate in free fall with two atomic species simultaneously. This will enable us to perform differential measurements of 87Rb and 40K atoms and thus provide a test of the weak equivalence principle in the quantum domain. The experiment will be carried out in the microgravity environment of the drop tower in Bremen. Here our predecessor project QUANTUS has already demonstrated the feasibility of experiments with ultra-cold gases in free fall, realizing a Bose-Einstein condensate and subsequently observing its free evolution for up to one second. We aim to realise an apparatus that is even more compact, operates with a higher number of atoms, uses a more sophisticated atom chip and allows for twice the amount of time in microgravity. In this way we will take advantage of long free evolution times which are inaccessible for ground based devices.
The QUANTUS project is supported by the German Space Agency DLR with funds provided by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) under grant number DLR 50WM1131.