Quantum mechanics is at the basis of our understanding of all matter and - since with the behavior of matter we explore space and time - also of our understanding of space-time. In the recent years, also quantum technologies became more and more important for practical purposes. This includes quantum sensors, quantum metrology, quantum information, quantum cryptography, quantum computing, etc....
Archimedes is an experiment conceived to shed light on one of the most intriguing topics of the modern physics: the interaction between the gravitational field and the vacuum fluctuations. The experiment will measure the force exerted by the gravitational field on a Casimir cavity, whose vacuum energy is modulated with a superconductive transition, by using a balance as a small force detector....
In a laboratory gravitational experiment one of the most critical elements is represented by the source of the gravitational field. For state-of-art measurements, a precise characterization of the field and the possibility to modulate the amplitude are needed. Usually one or more moving masses are used. We describe a new actuation technique for gravity experiments based on a liquid Field...
The Laser Ranged Satellites Experiment (LARASE) aims to test the gravitational interaction in the weak-field and slow-motion limit and compare, consequently, the predictions of Einstein’s theory of general relativity (GR) with those of other alternative theories of gravitation. In particular, a goal of LARASE is to improve the modelling of the non-gravitational perturbations (NGP) on the...
The acceleration of free falling atoms as measured by light-pulse atom interferometry (AI) equals the exact value experienced by the atoms only if the acceleration is constant. Since the gravitational field is non-uniform a variable term is always present whose contribution is measured only approximately, the experimental value being systematically smaller than the theoretical one. The more...
Sagnac Gyroscopes attached to the Earth surface are sensitive to gravito-magnetism, and in principle the confrontation with independent measurements of the Earth rotation rate gives the possibility to measure the Lense Thirring effect without the necessity to map the gravitational field, independently from the space measurements. This is feasible or not depending on how ideal is the Sagnac...
