We propose a feasible laboratory interferometry experiment with matter waves in a gravitational potential caused by a pair of artificial field-generating masses. It will demonstrate that the presence of these masses (and, for moving atoms, time dilat
ion) induces a phase shift, even if it does not cause any classical force. The phase shift is identical to that produced by the gravitational redshift (or time dilation) of clocks ticking at the atoms Compton frequency. In analogy to the Aharonov-Bohm effect in electromagnetism, the quantum mechanical phase is a function of the gravitational potential and not the classical forces.
We review matter wave and clock comparison tests of the gravitational redshift. To elucidate their relationship to tests of the universality of free fall (UFF), we define scenarios wherein redshift violations are coupled to violations of UFF (type II
), or independent of UFF violations (type III), respectively. Clock comparisons and atom interferometers are sensitive to similar effects in type II and precisely the same effects in type III scenarios, although type III violations remain poorly constrained. Finally, we describe the Geodesic Explorer, a conceptual spaceborne atom interferometer that will test the gravitational redshift with an accuracy 5 orders of magnitude better than current terrestrial redshift experiments for type II scenarios and 12 orders of magnitude better for type III.
