Atom interferometry tests of local Lorentz invariance in gravity and electrodynamics

We present atom-interferometer tests of the local Lorentz invariance of post-Newtonian gravity. An experiment probing for anomalous vertical gravity on Earth, which has already been performed, uses the highest-resolution atomic gravimeter so far. The influence of Lorentz violation in electrodynamics is also taken into account, resulting in combined bounds on Lorentz violation in gravity and electrodynamics. Expressed within the standard model extension or Nordtvedt’s anisotropic universe model, we limit 12 linear combinations of seven coefficients for Lorentz violation at the part per billion level, from which we derive limits on six coefficients (and seven when taking into account additional data from lunar laser ranging). We also discuss the use of horizontal interferometers, including atom-chip or guided-atom devices, which potentially allow the use of longer coherence times in order to achieve higher sensitivity.

Figure 1

Space-time diagram of a Mach-Zehnder atom interferometer. $t$ denotes time; $z$ denotes the vertical coordinate.

Figure 2

Setup. $\lambda /4$; $1/4$-wave retardation plate.

Figure 3

Typical fringe obtained in our experiment.

Figure 4

Data in ${10}^{-9}\mathrm{g}$. Each point represents a 60-s scan of one fringe (75-s after TJD1900).