Speaker
Description
A low-energy particle can be confined by a vertical reflective surface and gravity, settling into so-called gravitational quantum states (GQS). Theoretically predicted for neutrons as well as atoms, only the former have been observed up to now. They were initally detected by Nesvizhevsky et al. and are now routinely used at ILL.
The international GRASIAN collaboration pursues the first observation of GQS of atoms, using a cryogenic hydrogen (H) beam. This is motivated by the availability of higher rates of cold H than what is achievable with current ultracold neutron sources. The resulting higher statistics enable investigations into hypothetical short-range forces between the H and the mirror surface.
This talk will present the current status of the experiment as well as recent measurement results of the first observation of quantum reflection of atomic hydrogen from a silicon mirror surface.