A precision measurement of the gravitational redshift by the interference of matter waves

Holger Müller (), Achim Peters and Steven Chu
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Holger Müller: 366 Le Conte Hall MS 7300, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
Achim Peters: Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Hausvogteiplatz 5-7, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Steven Chu: 366 Le Conte Hall MS 7300, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

Nature, 2010, vol. 463, issue 7283, 926-929

Abstract: Clocking on to relativity A central prediction of general relativity states that a gravitational field slows the running of a clock. Previous measurements of this effect, known as gravitational redshift, have involved clocks at different heights, and until now this has been the least accurately determined of the parameters supporting curved space-time theories. Now this prediction has been confirmed to unprecedented accuracy using the results of lab experiments performed more than 10 years ago in a study of the acceleration of free fall. Analysis of the data — on quantum interference of single caesium atoms bobbing up and down in an atomic fountain — provides a measurement based on matter-wave interference that improves accuracy by a factor of 10,000.

Date: 2010
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DOI: 10.1038/nature08776

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