Hensen, Bas
Date: Wednesday, May 15, 2024
Time: 09:30
Place: ETH Campus Hönggerberg, HPZ E 35
Host: Lukas Novotny
Magnetic levitation for large mass superpositions and sensing gravity
Bas Hensen - Uni Leiden, NL
Abstract: Understanding the interface between quantum mechanics and general relativity is one of the key challenges of modern physics. What happens to the space-time metric when a massive particle is in a spatial superposition? A recent proposal1 to test these questions experimentally, based on detecting gravity mediated entanglement, has gained a lot of momentum. However, the experimental requirements for such a test are very challenging. I will present our ideas and progress towards building an experimental platform based on magnetically levitated microparticles to address those challenges. I will discuss four ongoing experiments in our labs: Sensing gravity with Meisner levitated magnetic particles at millikelvin temperatures2; room temperature magnetic Paul traps3; chip-based devices to levitate superconducting microparticles; and superconducting microwave circuit cooling of kilohertz mechanical motion. Finally, I will discuss our work towards reducing vibrations at millikelvin temperatures.
References
[1] Bose, S. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 240401 (2017)
[2] Fuchs, T. M. et al. Science Advances 10, eadk2949 (2024)
[3] Perdriat, M., Pellet-Mary, C., Copie, T. & Hétet, G. Phys. Rev. Res. 5, L032045 (2023)