Inertial sensing using Very Long Baseline Atom Interferometry

Quantum sensors based on atom interferometry allow the high-precision measurement of fundamental physical properties. The Very Long Baseline Atom Interferometry (VLBAI) facility in the Hannover Institute of Technology is working towards the measurement of inertial effects, which can be used for tests of fundamental physics and metrology. The sensitivity of atom interferometers depends on several factors one of which being the interferometer time and the large base- line of VLBAI facility provides longer interferometer time which leads to higher sensitivity.
Here we present the current status of the 15 m high VLBAI facility which aims for sub nm/s2 gravity measurement sensitivity. It includes a 10 m high magnetically shielded baseline to reach gradients below 1.5nT/m and a seismic attenuation system for inertial referencing which allows for excellent control over external perturbations of the inertial reference mirror. The long baseline at the VLBAI facility uses rubidium and ytterbium BEC source based atom interferometers with possible interferometer time of 2.8s. After the demonstration of small-scale interferometer, the rubidium BEC source is currently being inserted as fountain source on long baseline.

This work is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation): Project-ID 274200144 - SFB 1227 DQ-mat (projects B07 and B09), Project-ID 434617780 - SFB 1464 TerraQ (project A02), and Germany’s Excellence Strategy - EXC-2123 QuantumFrontiers - Project-ID 390837967.