Newtonian noise limit in atom interferometers for gravitational wave detection

TL;DR

This paper investigates how Newtonian noise impacts atom interferometers used for gravitational wave detection, establishing sensitivity limits comparable to large optical interferometers in the 0.1-10 Hz range.

Contribution

It provides the first analysis of Newtonian noise effects on atom interferometers for gravitational wave detection, comparing single and differential configurations.

Findings

Newtonian noise limits are comparable to optical interferometers in the 0.1-10 Hz range.

Both single and differential atom interferometer configurations are affected.

Sensitivity limits are quantified for proposed setups.

Abstract

In this work we study the influence of the newtonian noise on atom interferometers applied to the detection of gravitational waves, and we compute the resulting limits to the sensitivity in two different configurations: a single atom interferometer, or a pair of atom interferometers operated in a differential configuration. We find that for the instrumental configurations considered, and operating in the frequency range [0.1-10] Hz, the limits would be comparable to those affecting large scale optical interferometers.