https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-020-8088-2
Regular Article - Experimental Physics
A magneto-gravitational trap for studies of gravitational quantum states
1
Institut Max von Laue, Paul Langevin, 71 avenue des Martyrs, 38042, Grenoble, France
2
Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, ENS-PSL Université, Collège de France, 75252, Paris, France
3
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, FI-20014, Turku, Finland
4
Stefan Meyer Institute for Subatomic Physics, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Boltzmanngasse 3, 1090, Wien, Austria
5
ETH, Zurich, Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland
6
Lebedev Institute, 53 Leninsky pr., Moscow, 119333, Russia
* e-mail: nesvizhevsky@ill.eu
Received:
23
January
2020
Accepted:
27
May
2020
Published online:
10
June
2020
Observation time is the key parameter for improving the precision of measurements of gravitational quantum states of particles levitating above a reflecting surface. We propose a new method of long confinement in such states of atoms, anti-atoms, neutrons and other particles possessing a magnetic moment. The earth gravitational field and a reflecting mirror confine particles in the vertical direction. The magnetic field originating from electric current passing through a vertical wire confines particles in the radial direction. Under appropriate conditions, motions along these two directions are decoupled to a high degree. We estimate characteristic parameters of the problem, and list possible systematic effects that limit storage times due to the coupling of the two motions.
© The Author(s), 2020
