Atom-Interferometric Test of the Equivalence Principle at the <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:msup><mml:mrow><mml:mn>10</mml:mn></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mo>−</mml:mo><mml:mn>12</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msup></mml:mrow></mml:math> Level
Peter Asenbaum, Chris Overstreet, Minjeong Kim, Joseph Curti, Mark A. Kasevich
Abstract
We use a dual-species atom interferometer with 2 s of free-fall time to measure the relative acceleration between $^{85}\mathrm{Rb}$ and $^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ wave packets in the Earth's gravitational field. Systematic errors arising from kinematic differences between the isotopes are suppressed by calibrating the angles and frequencies of the interferometry beams. We find an E\"otv\"os parameter of $\ensuremath{\eta}=[1.6\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1.8(\mathrm{stat})\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}3.4(\mathrm{syst})]\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}12}$, consistent with zero violation of the equivalence principle. With a resolution of up to $1.4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}11}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{g}$ per shot, we demonstrate a sensitivity to $\ensuremath{\eta}$ of $5.4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}11}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$.