Williams Jason R, Sackett Charles A, Ahlers Holger, Aveline David C, Boegel Patrick, Botsi Sofia, Charron Eric, Elliott Ethan R, Gaaloul Naceur, Giese Enno, Herr Waldemar, Kellogg James R, Kohel James M, Lay Norman E, Meister Matthias, Müller Gabriel, Müller Holger, Oudrhiri Kamal, Phillips Leah, Pichery Annie, Rasel Ernst M, Roura Albert, Sbroscia Matteo, Schleich Wolfgang P, Schneider Christian, Schubert Christian, Sen Bejoy, Thompson Robert J, Bigelow Nicholas P
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91109, USA.
Department of Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22904, USA.
Nat Commun. 2024 Aug 13;15(1):6414. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-50585-6.
Deployment of ultracold atom interferometers (AI) into space will capitalize on quantum advantages and the extended freefall of persistent microgravity to provide high-precision measurement capabilities for gravitational, Earth, and planetary sciences, and to enable searches for subtle forces signifying physics beyond General Relativity and the Standard Model. NASA's Cold Atom Lab (CAL) operates onboard the International Space Station as a multi-user facility for fundamental studies of ultracold atoms and to mature space-based quantum technologies. We report on pathfinding experiments utilizing ultracold Rb atoms in the CAL AI. A three-pulse Mach-Zehnder interferometer was studied to understand the influence of ISS vibrations. Additionally, Ramsey shear-wave interferometry was used to manifest interference patterns in a single run that were observable for over 150 ms free-expansion time. Finally, the CAL AI was used to remotely measure the Bragg laser photon recoil as a demonstration of the first quantum sensor using matter-wave interferometry in space.
将超冷原子干涉仪（AI）部署到太空将利用量子优势以及持续微重力环境下更长时间的自由落体，为引力、地球和行星科学提供高精度测量能力，并能够寻找表示超出广义相对论和标准模型的物理学的微弱力。美国国家航空航天局（NASA）的冷原子实验室（CAL）在国际空间站上运行，作为一个多用户设施，用于超冷原子的基础研究和使天基量子技术成熟。我们报告了在CAL AI中利用超冷铷原子进行的探索性实验。研究了一种三脉冲马赫-曾德尔干涉仪，以了解国际空间站振动的影响。此外，拉姆齐剪切波干涉测量法被用于在单次运行中呈现干涉图样，该图样在超过150毫秒的自由膨胀时间内都可观测到。最后，CAL AI被用于远程测量布拉格激光光子反冲，以此作为在太空中使用物质波干涉测量法的首个量子传感器的演示。
