AICE: A long-baseline atom interferometry facility at CERN

by Oliver Buchmüller (Imperial)

Tuesday 30 Jun 2026, 15:30 → 17:00 Europe/Berlin

A.1.01 - Alps Süd (MPP)

The Atom Interferometer CERN Experiment (AICE) is a proposed 140-m-long baseline quantum sensing facility to be installed in the PX46 access shaft at CERN’s LHC Point 4, a uniquely suitable site whose use is compatible with LHC operation. AICE is conceived as a staged and upgradeable facility rather than a single fixed experiment. Its primary scientific objective is the search for ultralight dark matter using precision measurements of atomic transition frequencies, targeting regions of parameter space that are complementary to existing approaches. In addition, AICE will explore the mid-frequency gravitational-wave band (∼0.01–10 Hz). The project builds on national pathfinder experiments in atom interferometry, including AION Collaboration in the UK, MAGIS-100 in the US, VLBAI in Germany, MIGA in France, and ZAIGA in China, and related efforts worldwide, which are brought together within the emerging TVLBAI collaboration. Following the submission of a Letter of Intent, AICE is now progressing towards the preparation of a Technical Proposal for review by CERN.