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arXiv · 2205.11130

Manipulation of gravitational quantum states of a bouncing neutron with the GRANIT spectrometer

Benoit Clément·Stefan Baeßler·Valery V. Nesvizhevsky·Emily Perry·Guillaume Pignol·Jason A. Pioquinto·Konstantin V. Protasov·Dominique Rebreyend·Damien Roulier·Lingnan Shen·Alexander V. Strelkov·Francis Vezzu
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Abstract

The bouncing neutron is one of the rare system where gravity can be studied in a quantum framework. To this end it is crucial to be able to select some specific gravitational quantum state (GQS). The GRANIT apparatus is the first physics experiment connected to a superthermal helium UCN source. We report on the methods developed for this instrument showing how specific GQS can be favored using a step between mirrors and an absorbing slit. We explore the increase of GQS separation efficiency by increasing the absorber roughness amplitude, and find it is feasible but requires a high adjustment precision. We also quantify the transmission of the absorbing slit leading to a measurement of the spatial extension of the neutron vertical wave function $z_0 = \hbar^{2/3}\left(2m^2g\right)^{-1/3} = 5.9\pm0.3\,\mu$m.

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Benoit Clément, Stefan Baeßler, Valery V. Nesvizhevsky, Emily Perry, Guillaume Pignol, Jason A. Pioquinto, Konstantin V. Protasov, Dominique Rebreyend, Damien Roulier, Lingnan Shen, Alexander V. Strelkov, Francis Vezzu. 2022-05-23. Manipulation of gravitational quantum states of a bouncing neutron with the GRANIT spectrometer. https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.11130

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