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arXiv · 1510.00866

Quantum ballistic experiment on antihydrogen fall

A. Yu. Voronin·V. V. Nesvizhevsky·G. Dufour·S. Reynaud
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Abstract

We study an interferometric approach to measure gravitational mass of antihydrogen. The method consists of preparing a coherent superposition of antihydrogen quantum state localized near a material surface in the gravitational field of the Earth, and then observing the time distribution of annihilation events followed after the free fall of an initially prepared superposition from a given height to the detector plate. We show that a corresponding time distribution is related to the momentum distribution in the initial state that allows its precise measurement. This approach is combined with a method of production of a coherent superposition of gravitational states by inducing a resonant transition using oscillating gradient magnetic field. We estimate an accuracy of measuring the gravitational mass of antihydrogen atom which could be deduced from such a measurement.

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A. Yu. Voronin, V. V. Nesvizhevsky, G. Dufour, S. Reynaud. 2015-10-03. Quantum ballistic experiment on antihydrogen fall. https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-4075%2F49%2F5%2F054001

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