Ramsey Gravity Resonance Spectroscopy with Ultracold Neutrons

Abstract

Neutrons appear to be ideal test particles to search for non-Newtonian gravity at micrometer separations, as with their vanishing electrostatic sensitivity they avoid many of the problems appearing with other test masses. Over the past decade, the qBounce collaboration has developed a technique named gravity resonance spectroscopy (GRS) that allows probing the bound states of ultracold neutrons in the Earth’s gravitational field. With the successful implementation of Ramsey spectroscopy and long interaction times, the setup presented promises to test Einstein’s gravity with unprecedented sensitivity.