New apparatus for detecting micron-scale deviations from Newtonian gravity

David M. Weld, Jing Xia, Blas Cabrera, and Aharon Kapitulnik
Phys. Rev. D 77, 062006 – Published 27 March 2008

Abstract

We describe the design and construction of a new apparatus for detecting or constraining deviations from Newtonian gravity at short length scales. The apparatus consists of a new type of probe with rotary mass actuation and cantilever-based force detection which is used to directly measure the force between two micromachined masses separated by tens of microns. We present the first data from the experiment, and discuss the prospects of more precisely constraining or detecting non-Newtonian effects using this probe. Currently, the sensitivity to attractive mass-dependent forces is equal to the best existing limits at length scales near 5μm. No non-Newtonian effects are detected at that level.

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  • Received 6 January 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.77.062006

©2008 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

David M. Weld1,*, Jing Xia1, Blas Cabrera1, and Aharon Kapitulnik1,2

  • 1Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
  • 2Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA

  • *dweld@mit.edu Present address: Center for Ultracold Atoms, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

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Vol. 77, Iss. 6 — 15 March 2008

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