Berlin 2014 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 30: Poster: Photonics, laser development and applications, ultrashort laser pulses, quantum effects
Q 30.53: Poster
Dienstag, 18. März 2014, 16:30–18:30, Spree-Palais
BOOST-Testing fundamental physics in space — For the BOOST Consortium1,2, •Alexander Milke1, Deborah N. Aguilera2, Norman Gürlebeck1, Thilo Schuldt1,2, and Claus Braxmaier1,2 — 1Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM), University of Bremen, Germany — 2German Aerospace Center (DLR), Bremen, Germany
We are presenting the small satellite mission BOOST (BOOst Symmetry Test). It aims for testing the foundations of special relativity by performing a modern Kennedy-Thorndike (KT) experiment. A potential violation of the boost invariance is measured by comparing two types of clocks, a highly stable optical resonator (length reference) with a molecular iodine clock (frequency reference). For realizing a small satellite compatible payload, the use of diode-laser technology is favorable and currently already under investigation with respect to other space experiments. A laser wavelength of 1016 nm is foreseen as its second harmonics accesses narrow linewidth transitions in molecular iodine. For the KT experiment, one laser is stabilized to a high finesse cavity and a second laser is frequency doubled to a wavelength of 508 nm and stabilized to a hyperfine transition in molecular iodine. Both lasers are directly compared in a beat measurement and analyzed with respect to a possible violation of boost invariance. By employing clocks with 1E-16 frequency stabilities at orbit time and by integration over 5000 orbits, a 1000-fold improvement in measuring the Kennedy-Thorndike coefficient is targeted compared to the current best terrestrial test.