Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences - Department of Physics

Department Colloquium: Prof. Dr. Ernst M. Rasel (Institute of Quantum Optics, Leibniz Universität Hannover) will speak about "Space-borne Bose-Einstein condensation for precision interferometry".

Abstract

Matter wave interferometers employing Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) herald a paradigm shift in interferometry. Having solved previous issues such as the low atomic flux of BECs and the detrimental effects of their mean-field energy by employing delta-kick collimation, the use of ultracold atoms shall allow to enhance the precision and accuracy inertial quantum sensors. Moreover atom-chips open the possibility for radical miniaturization and a strongly improved robustness such that these devices can be operated outside of laboratories. Last but not least, these sources allow operation of BEC interferometers in space. There the extended free fall and the absence of a strong bias due to gravity is expected to boost the sensitivity of these interferometers bringing in reach more stringent tests of the principle of equivalence and better tools for Earth observation. The DLR sounding rocket mission MAIUS-1 turned space-borne BEC experiments from fiction to reality and paved the way for the NASA Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL), which will be launched 2018, and for BECCAL, a joint initiative of NASA and DLR scientists, for exploring quantum matter experiments and interferometry in space.