Quectonewton local force sensor

Abstract

We report on the realization of a quantum sensor based on trapped atom interferometry in an optical lattice for the measurement of atom-surface interactions, with sub-micrometer-level control of the mean atom-surface separation distance. The force sensor reaches a short-term sensitivity of 3.4 x 10 --28 N at 1 s and a long-term stability of 4 qN (4 x 10 --30 N). We perform force measurements in the 0-300 $\mu$m range, and despite significant stray forces caused by adsorbed atoms on the surface, we obtain evidence of the Casimir-Polder force. Short-range forces are one of the many frontiers of modern physics [1, 2]. In the submillimeter scales, quantum electrodynamics (QED) interactions are dominant, and give rise in the case of atom-surface interactions to the Casimir-Polder force [3]. Since the first highlight of this force [4], several different methods [5] have been able to bring out Casimir-Polder forces, notably by measuring the transmission of an atomic beam through a micronsized cavity [6], diffracting matter waves on a surface [7] or performing spectroscopy in vapor cells [8, 9]. However these approaches have struggled to achieve the high measurement sensitivity required to detect the very weak forces involved all while maintaining a good understanding of the setup geometry, particularly the distance separating atoms from the surface. Few experiments have achieved measuring Casimir-Polder forces while controlling directly the atom-surface distance. In the range from tens to hundreds of nanometers, the Casimir-Polder potential was measured directly by reflecting the atoms on an evanescent field [10, 11]. In