Matter-wave Atomic Gradiometer Interferometric Sensor (MAGIS-100)

TL;DR

MAGIS-100 is a groundbreaking 100-meter atom interferometer sensor designed to explore fundamental physics, including dark matter, quantum mechanics, and gravitational waves, serving as a technological stepping stone for future large-scale detectors.

Contribution

This paper introduces the MAGIS-100 detector, combining advanced atom interferometry and atomic clock techniques to enable new physics searches and future gravitational wave detection.

Findings

Design and operating principles of MAGIS-100

Potential to detect ultralight dark matter and gravitational waves

Development platform for kilometer-scale detectors

Abstract

MAGIS-100 is a next-generation quantum sensor under construction at Fermilab that aims to explore fundamental physics with atom interferometry over a 100-meter baseline. This novel detector will search for ultralight dark matter, test quantum mechanics in new regimes, and serve as a technology pathfinder for future gravitational wave detectors in a previously unexplored frequency band. It combines techniques demonstrated in state-of-the-art 10-meter-scale atom interferometers with the latest technological advances of the world's best atomic clocks. MAGIS-100 will provide a development platform for a future kilometer-scale detector that would be sufficiently sensitive to detect gravitational waves from known sources. Here we present the science case for the MAGIS concept, review the operating principles of the detector, describe the instrument design, and study the detector systematics.