A micromechanical proof-of-principle experiment for measuring the gravitational force of milligram masses
- Author(s)
- Jonas Schmoele, Mathias Dragosits, Hans Hepach, Markus Aspelmeyer
- Abstract
This paper addresses a simple question: how small can one make a gravitational source mass and still detect its gravitational coupling to a nearby test mass? We describe an experimental scheme based on micromechanical sensing to observe gravity between milligram-scale source masses, thereby improving the current smallest source mass values by three orders of magnitude and possibly even more. We also discuss the implications of such measurements both for improved precision measurements of Newton's constant and for a new generation of experiments at the interface between quantum physics and gravity.
- Organisation(s)
- Quantum Optics, Quantum Nanophysics and Quantum Information
- Journal
- Classical and Quantum Gravity
- Volume
- 33
- No. of pages
- 19
- ISSN
- 0264-9381
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1088/0264-9381/33/12/125031
- Publication date
- 05-2016
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 103028 Theory of relativity
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)
- Portal url
- https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/a-micromechanical-proofofprinciple-experiment-for-measuring-the-gravitational-force-of-milligram-masses(63139e9d-18d5-4208-8655-fbadccd0c929).html