Welcome to the Exotic Physics webpage
The Atom Chip Group has initiated 4 research programs that explore physics beyond the standard model:
1. Quantum spatial superpositions of macroscopic objects, to probe ideas of quantum gravity, as well as more fringe ideas like the gravitational self-interaction hypothesis by Penrose. Such an experiment will also probe the foundations of QM as it will increase by several orders of magnitude the state of the art of the mass put in a superposition. Here is a new paper we recently put on the archive:link.
2. Search for dark matter (DM) and new interactions via an advanced magnetometer (for example, testing axion-spin interactions). Our advanced magnetometer is already working as part of the GNOME collaboration, and it is the first DM detector in Israel.
3. Clocks. Here we envisage two types of experiments: First, clock interferometry to work at the interface of QM and general relativity (GR). See our papers: Science 2015, and Classical and Quantum Gravity 2018. We are now upgrading the experiment. Second, we plan to use our new Yb atomic optical-frequency clock to search for exotic physics in areas of QM, GR, DM, dark energy, etc.
4. Testing gravity of anti-matter, as well as other concepts and interactions imported from the regular matter sector. We plan to do this in the GBAR experiment at CERN, with our atom chips. The plan is to cool and trap anti-hydrogen atoms (our first chip is being tested at the lab of Ferdinand Schmidt-Kaler, see picture below).
Follow us on our What's New web page.
