The standard model describes many phenomena well but fails to account for massive neutrinos and dark matter. Creating tools that can probe a different parameter space will be helpful in narrowing down the particle search. My project will address how to use atoms as momentum sensing devices for particle detection and to experimentally implement them in a lattice interferometer.
Atoms are an unexplored tool in novel particle detection and have the potential to become ultra-sensitive devices that can further limit the parameter space of hypothetical particles. I will theorize about possible atomic momentum sensing schemes and the limits of these protocols. Experimentally I will implement one of these schemes into the lattice interferometer.
Deliverables from this project include theoretical models for an atomic particle detector, with the sensitivity and noise response characterized. Another deliverable is experimental data from the lattice interferometer showing the capability to sense momentum impulses. This project will push the particle detection and quantum technology. It will lead to theoretical results describing atomic systems as momentum sensors, and an application of the theory in an experiment will push the community to pursue these ideas.
For the duration of the grant, the Fellow will have a doctoral advisor (Holger Mueller) at the legal organization (Regents of the University of California at Berkeley) and a cross-discipline advisor (Daniel Carney) at the partnering organization (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory).
