Atomic gravitational wave interferometric sensor

Savas Dimopoulos, Peter W. Graham, Jason M. Hogan, Mark A. Kasevich, and Surjeet Rajendran
Phys. Rev. D 78, 122002 – Published 19 December 2008

Abstract

We propose two distinct atom interferometer gravitational wave detectors, one terrestrial and another satellite based, utilizing the core technology of the Stanford 10 m atom interferometer presently under construction. Each configuration compares two widely separated atom interferometers run using common lasers. The signal scales with the distance between the interferometers, which can be large since only the light travels over this distance, not the atoms. The terrestrial experiment with two 10m atom interferometers separated by a 1km baseline can operate with strain sensitivity 1019Hz in the 1 Hz–10 Hz band, inaccessible to LIGO, and can detect gravitational waves from solar mass binaries out to megaparsec distances. The satellite experiment with two atom interferometers separated by a 1000km baseline can probe the same frequency spectrum as LISA with comparable strain sensitivity 1020Hz. The use of ballistic atoms (instead of mirrors) as inertial test masses improves systematics coming from vibrations and acceleration noise, and significantly reduces spacecraft control requirements. We analyze the backgrounds in this configuration and discuss methods for controlling them to the required levels.

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  • Received 28 August 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.78.122002

©2008 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Savas Dimopoulos1,*, Peter W. Graham2,†, Jason M. Hogan1,‡, Mark A. Kasevich1,§, and Surjeet Rajendran1,2,∥

  • 1Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
  • 2SLAC, Stanford University, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA

  • *savas@stanford.edu
  • pwgraham@stanford.edu
  • hogan@stanford.edu
  • §kasevich@stanford.edu
  • surjeet@stanford.edu

Comments & Replies

Comment on “Atomic gravitational wave interferometric sensor”

Peter L. Bender
Phys. Rev. D 84, 028101 (2011)

Reply to “Comment on ‘Atomic gravitational wave interferometric sensor’ ”

Savas Dimopoulos, Peter W. Graham, Jason M. Hogan, Mark A. Kasevich, and Surjeet Rajendran
Phys. Rev. D 84, 028102 (2011)

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Issue

Vol. 78, Iss. 12 — 15 December 2008

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