An experiment to test for relativistic frame dragging effects with quantum interferometry is proposed. The idea that the classical trajectories of the interferometer surround a spherical mass source whose angular momentum is perpendicular to the plane containing these trajectories. A simple analysis allows one to find the phase shift for particles traveling in the innermost stable circular orbit; the result can be easily generalized for more realistic orbits. The phase difference goes like the source's angular momentum per mass times the quantum particles' mass. This is a small effect but it can be amplified by making the classical paths go around the source several times. Moreover, this experiment has the advantage that the source's angular momentum can be easily controlled.
An experiment to test for relativistic frame dragging effects with quantum interferometry is proposed. The idea that the classical trajectories of the interferometer surround a spherical mass source whose angular momentum is perpendicular to the plane containing these trajectories. A simple analysis allows one to find the phase shift for particles traveling in the innermost stable circular orbit; the result can be easily generalized for more realistic orbits. The phase difference goes like the source's angular momentum per mass times the quantum particles' mass. This is a small effect but it can be amplified by making the classical paths go around the source several times. Moreover, this experiment has the advantage that the source's angular momentum can be easily controlled.
Gravity-induced entanglement has been proposed as a method for testing the non-classical nature of gravity via tabletop experiments. While most existing proposals are restricted to the Newtonian limit, the frame dragging effect offers access to genuinely post-Newtonian features of the gravitational interaction and remains comparatively less explored. Here, we study gravity-induced entanglement generated by frame dragging in an interferometric setting and compute the entanglement phase between the rotational degrees of freedom of a source mass and the paths of a particle in two complementary ways: (i) via Schrödinger evolution with a quantized Lense-Thirring Hamiltonian in the large angular momentum limit, and (ii) via the on-shell action of linearized quantum gravity within the stationary phase approximation. Both approaches yield the same entanglement phase, consistent with the proper time difference between the interferometer arms. The path integral derivation further reveals how gravitational retardation modifies the entanglement phase, thereby making the local, relativistically causal linearized-gravity description explicit. Under the standard locality/mediator assumptions used in existing arguments, the resulting entanglement would witness non-classicality of the gravitational interaction.
Applying quantum field theory on a classical, curved space-time has led to the enthralling theoretical predictions of, e.g., black hole evaporation and particle creation in the early, expanding universe.However, the prospects of observing such in the near to mid future seem far from practical.This is discouraging because extrapolation of general relativity "down to the Hilbert space level," though expected, carries no empirical support as of yet.On the other hand, fueled by the continuing developments in quantum technology, there has been growing interest in the prospect of observing more modest effects of general relativity at the level of quantum interference phenomena.Motivated by these recent developments, in this work, we investigate the Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect-a two-photon quantum-interference effect-in the space-time of a rotating spherical mass.In particular, we propose and analyze a common-path setup restricted to the surface of the Earth and show that, in principle, gravitational frame dragging induces observable shifts in the two-photon HOM dip.For completeness and correspondence with current literature, we also analyze the emergence of gravitational time dilation, for a dual-arm interferometer.The formalism thus presented establishes a basis for encoding general-relativistic effects into local, multiphoton, quantum-interference experiments.We also consider signatures of noninertial reference-frame effects on two-photon interference such as, e.g., the Sagnac effect induced by Earth's rotation, which seems detectable with current quantum-optical technology.This can be viewed as a stepping-stone towards the more ambitious goal of observing gravitational frame dragging at the level of individual photons.
Quantum mechanics and general relativity have been extensively and independently confirmed in many experiments. However, the interplay of the two theories has never been tested: all experiments that measured the influence of gravity on quantum systems are consistent with non-relativistic, Newtonian gravity. On the other hand, all tests of general relativity can be described within the framework of classical physics. Here we discuss a quantum interference experiment with single photons that can probe quantum mechanics in curved space-time. We consider a single photon traveling in superposition along two paths in an interferometer, with each arm experiencing a different gravitational time dilation. If the difference in the time dilations is comparable with the photon's coherence time, the visibility of the quantum interference is predicted to drop, while for shorter time dilations the effect of gravity will result only in a relative phase shift between the two arms. We discuss what aspects of the interplay between quantum mechanics and general relativity are probed in such experiments and analyze the experimental feasibility.
In this study, we investigate how Earth's gravitational field affects Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference experiments conducted in a terrestrial laboratory. To second order, we calculate the relativistic time delay from the null geodesic equation (particle perspective), while the phase shift and the associated effective time delay are derived from the Klein-Gordon equation (wave perspective). Since gravity influences both the temporal and spatial parts of the phase shift, these two time delays differ and lead to different coincidence probabilities. The previous HOM experiment conducted on a rotating platform suggests that the wave perspective can explain the experimental results. We further explore the frame dragging and redshift effects in an arbitrarily oriented rectangular interferometer under two distinct scenarios with different photon paths, measuring one effect in each scenario. We find that both effects can be amplified by increasing the number of light loops. Additionally, we emphasize that the next-to-leading order Sagnac effect, arising from gravitational acceleration, is comparable to the Thomas precession, the geodetic effect, and the Lense-Thirring effect. To detect the leading order Sagnac effect and the redshift effect caused by gravitational acceleration, we estimate the number of loops that photons should travel in the interferometer. Furthermore, we propose that the difference between two HOM patterns can be used as a probe to detect gravitational effects on quantum systems.
Current attempts to probe general relativistic effects in quantum mechanics focus on precision measurements of phase shifts in matter–wave interferometry. Yet, phase shifts can always be explained as arising because of an Aharonov–Bohm effect, where a particle in a flat space–time is subject to an effective potential. Here we propose a quantum effect that cannot be explained without the general relativistic notion of proper time. We consider interference of a 'clock'—a particle with evolving internal degrees of freedom—that will not only display a phase shift, but also reduce the visibility of the interference pattern. According to general relativity, proper time flows at different rates in different regions of space–time. Therefore, because of quantum complementarity, the visibility will drop to the extent to which the path information becomes available from reading out the proper time from the 'clock'. Such a gravitationally induced decoherence would provide the first test of the genuine general relativistic notion of proper time in quantum mechanics. In the theory of general relativity time flows at different rates depending on the space–time geometry. Here, a drop in the visibility of a quantum 'clock' interference in a gravitational potential is predicted, which cannot be explained without the general relativistic notion of time.
Interferometers, which are built using spatially propagating light or matter waves, are commonly used to measure physical quantities. These measurements are made possible by exploiting the interference between waves traveling along different paths. This study introduces a novel approach to sensing of the Aharonov-Bohm phase, an ion matter-wave interferometer operating within a two-dimensional rotational trajectory in a trap potential. The ion orbitals in the nearly circular potential change rotation direction with time. This reversal of rotation direction results in a corresponding change in the interference phase. Our study is the first attempt to utilize propagating matter waves of an ion in constructing a two-dimensional interferometer for the measurement of physical quantities. Given that the scale factor of the interferometer to the cyclotron motion and the rotation of the system is common, the sensitivity to the Aharonov-Bohm phase in this study corresponds to a rotation sensitivity of approximately 300 rad/s. Besides advancing interferometry, our work also lays the foundation for future research into the use of ion matter waves in gyroscopic applications.