https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/s10053-021-00212-6
Regular Article - Atomic Physics
New apparatus design for high-precision measurement of G with atom interferometry
1
Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia and LENS, Università di Firenze, INFN Sezione di Firenze, via Sansone 1, I-50019, Sesto Fiorentino, FI, Italy
2
European Space Agency, Keplerlaan 1, 2200, Noordwijk, AG, The Netherlands
3
CNR-IFAC, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
Received:
4
February
2021
Accepted:
20
June
2021
Published online:
7
July
2021
We propose a new scheme for an improved determination of the Newtonian gravitational constant G and evaluate it by numerical simulations. Cold atoms in free fall are probed by atom interferometry measurements to characterize the gravitational field generated by external source masses. Two source mass configurations having different geometries and using different materials are compared to identify an optimized experimental setup for the G measurement. The effects of the magnetic fields used to manipulate the atoms and to control the interferometer phase are also characterized.
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, SIF and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021
