Light-Pulse Atom Interferometric Test of Continuous Spontaneous Localization

TL;DR

This paper uses light-pulse atom interferometry to test the CSL model, deriving theoretical predictions and setting experimental bounds on CSL parameters through measurements with rubidium atoms.

Contribution

It introduces a path-integral approach to model CSL effects in atom interferometry and compares theoretical predictions with experimental data to constrain CSL parameters.

Findings

Exponential contrast loss scales linearly with interferometer time T.

Experimental data places bounds on CSL parameters.

Theoretical model agrees with observed contrast loss.

Abstract

We investigate the effect of the Continuous Spontaneous Localization (CSL) model on light-pulse atom interferometry. Using a path-integral approach with an additional stochastic potential accounting for CSL, we derive an exponential loss of the contrast that scales linearly with the interferometer time $T$ if both interferometer arms are spatially separated. We compare our theoretical results with measurements from a cold rubidium atom interferometer based on counter-propagating two-photon transitions with pulse separation times up to $T$ = 260 ms and obtain the corresponding bounds on the CSL parameters.