A micromechanical proof-of-principle experiment for measuring the gravitational force of milligram masses

Autor(en)

Jonas Schmoele, Mathias Dragosits, Hans Hepach, Markus Aspelmeyer

Abstrakt

This paper addresses a simple question: how small can one make a gravitational source mass and still detect its gravitational coupling to a nearby test mass? We describe an experimental scheme based on micromechanical sensing to observe gravity between milligram-scale source masses, thereby improving the current smallest source mass values by three orders of magnitude and possibly even more. We also discuss the implications of such measurements both for improved precision measurements of Newton's constant and for a new generation of experiments at the interface between quantum physics and gravity.

Organisation(en)

Quantenoptik, Quantennanophysik und Quanteninformation

Journal

Classical and Quantum Gravity

Band

33

Anzahl der Seiten

19

ISSN

0264-9381

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1088/0264-9381/33/12/125031

Publikationsdatum

05-2016

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

103028 Relativitätstheorie

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/63139e9d-18d5-4208-8655-fbadccd0c929