Quantum interference measurement of the free fall of anti-hydrogen

TL;DR

This paper proposes a quantum measurement approach to significantly enhance the precision of free-fall acceleration measurements of anti-hydrogen, surpassing classical methods by about three orders of magnitude.

Contribution

It introduces a full quantum analysis including photo-detachment recoil, improving measurement accuracy in anti-hydrogen free-fall experiments.

Findings

Accuracy improved by approximately three orders of magnitude.

Quantum analysis accounts for photo-detachment recoil effects.

Enhanced measurement technique surpasses classical timing methods.

Abstract

We analyze a quantum measurement designed to improve the accuracy for the free-fall acceleration of anti-hydrogen in the GBAR experiment. Including the effect of photo-detachment recoil in the analysis and developing a full quantum analysis of anti-matter wave propagation, we show that the accuracy is improved by approximately three orders of magnitude with respect to the classical timing technique planned for the current experiment.