Measuring gravity with milligram levitated masses

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Fuchs, Tim M., Uitenbroek, Dennis G., Plugge, Jaimy, van Halteren, Noud, van Soest, Jean-Paul, Vinante, Andrea, Ulbricht, Hendrik, Oosterkamp, Tjerk H.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2023
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author Fuchs, Tim M.
Uitenbroek, Dennis G.
Plugge, Jaimy
van Halteren, Noud
van Soest, Jean-Paul
Vinante, Andrea
Ulbricht, Hendrik
Oosterkamp, Tjerk H.
author_facet Fuchs, Tim M.
Uitenbroek, Dennis G.
Plugge, Jaimy
van Halteren, Noud
van Soest, Jean-Paul
Vinante, Andrea
Ulbricht, Hendrik
Oosterkamp, Tjerk H.
contents Gravity differs from all other known fundamental forces since it is best described as a curvature of spacetime. For that reason it remains resistant to unifications with quantum theory. Gravitational interaction is fundamentally weak and becomes prominent only at macroscopic scales. This means, we do not know what happens to gravity in the microscopic regime where quantum effects dominate, and whether quantum coherent effects of gravity become apparent. Levitated mechanical systems of mesoscopic size offer a probe of gravity, while still allowing quantum control over their motional state. This regime opens the possibility of table-top testing of quantum superposition and entanglement in gravitating systems. Here we show gravitational coupling between a levitated sub-millimeter scale magnetic particle inside a type-I superconducting trap and kg source masses, placed approximately half a meter away. Our results extend gravity measurements to low gravitational forces of attonewton and underline the importance of levitated mechanical sensors. Specifically, at a frequency of 26.7 Hz, a mass of 0.4 mg and showing Q-factors in excess of 10$^7$, we obtained a force noise of 0.5 $fN\sqrt{Hz}$ . We simultaneously detect the other 5 rotational and translational degrees of freedom.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2303_03545
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Measuring gravity with milligram levitated masses
Fuchs, Tim M.
Uitenbroek, Dennis G.
Plugge, Jaimy
van Halteren, Noud
van Soest, Jean-Paul
Vinante, Andrea
Ulbricht, Hendrik
Oosterkamp, Tjerk H.
Quantum Physics
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Gravity differs from all other known fundamental forces since it is best described as a curvature of spacetime. For that reason it remains resistant to unifications with quantum theory. Gravitational interaction is fundamentally weak and becomes prominent only at macroscopic scales. This means, we do not know what happens to gravity in the microscopic regime where quantum effects dominate, and whether quantum coherent effects of gravity become apparent. Levitated mechanical systems of mesoscopic size offer a probe of gravity, while still allowing quantum control over their motional state. This regime opens the possibility of table-top testing of quantum superposition and entanglement in gravitating systems. Here we show gravitational coupling between a levitated sub-millimeter scale magnetic particle inside a type-I superconducting trap and kg source masses, placed approximately half a meter away. Our results extend gravity measurements to low gravitational forces of attonewton and underline the importance of levitated mechanical sensors. Specifically, at a frequency of 26.7 Hz, a mass of 0.4 mg and showing Q-factors in excess of 10$^7$, we obtained a force noise of 0.5 $fN\sqrt{Hz}$ . We simultaneously detect the other 5 rotational and translational degrees of freedom.
title Measuring gravity with milligram levitated masses
topic Quantum Physics
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.03545