Editorial on the GRG special issue on “Gravitational waves detection with atom interferometry”

Abstract

This year 2011 marks the 20th anniversary of atom interferometry. It started with microfabricated mechanical beam splitters, namely double slits as used by Carnal and Mlynek [1] and gratings used by the group of Pritchard [2]. A fewmonths later the first atom interferometers based on laser beams as beam splitters and mirrors have been built by Riehle et al. [3] and Kasevich and Chu [4]. After the first demonstration of their functioning these atom interferometers using laser beams as optical elements have been improved to become sensitive accelerometers and gyroscopes as has been first proposed by Borde [5] as well as tools for various fundamental physics experiments (see, e.g., the reviews [6,7]). The impressive development in matter wave interferometry with neutral atoms is stimulating an increasing interest on the idea to use atom interferometers even to detect the elusive gravitational waves. The first workshop on Gravitational Waves Detection with Atom Interferometry was held in Florence, Italy, in 2009 [8]. This special issue derives from that workshop and collects papers by the groups actively working in