Mesoscopic Interference for Metric and Curvature (MIMAC) & Gravitational Wave Detection.

A compact detector for space-time metric and curvature is highly desirable, especially if it could also detect gravitational waves. Here we show that quantum spatial superpositions of mesoscopic objects, of the type feasible with potential advancement of techniques, can be exploited to create such a detector. By using Stern-Gerlach (SG) interferometry with masses much larger than atoms, where the interferometric signal is extracted by measuring spins, we show that accelerations as low as $5\times10^{-16}\textrm{ms}^{-2}\textrm{Hz}^{-1/2}$, as well as the frame dragging effects caused by the Earth, can be sensed. The apparatus is constructed to be non-symmetric so as to enable the direct detection of curvature and gravitational waves (GWs). In the latter context, we find that it can be used as meter sized, orientable and vibrational (thermal/seismic) noise resilient detector of mid and low frequency GWs from massive binaries (same regimes as those targeted by atom interferometers and LISA).