Mobile quantum gravity sensor with unprecedented stability
Paper in proceeding, 2016
Changes of surface gravity on Earth are of great interest in geodesy, earth sciences
and natural resource exploration. They are indicative of Earth system's mass redistributions and
vertical surface motion, and are usually measured with falling corner-cube- and superconducting
gravimeters (FCCG and SCG). Here we report on absolute gravity measurements with a
mobile quantum gravimeter based on atom interferometry. The measurements were conducted
in Germany and Sweden over periods of several days with simultaneous SCG and FCCG
comparisons. They show the best-reported performance of mobile atomic gravimeters to
date with an accuracy of 39 nm/s^2, long-term stability of 0,5 nm/s^2 and short-term noise of 96 nm/s^2/(Hz)^1/2. These measurements highlight the unique properties of atomic sensors. The
achieved level of performance in a transportable instrument enables new applications in geodesy
and related Fields, such as continuous absolute gravity monitoring with a single instrument under
rough environmental conditions.
Atom Interferometry
Gravimetry
Metrology
Frequency Standards
Author
Christian Freier
Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin
Matthias Hauth
Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin
Vladimir Schkolnik
Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin
Bastian Keykauf
Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin
Manuel Schilling
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universitat
Hartmut Wziontek
Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG)
Hans-Georg Scherneck
Chalmers, Earth and Space Sciences, Space Geodesy and Geodynamics
Chalmers, Earth and Space Sciences, Onsala Space Observatory
Jürgen Müller
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universitat
Achim Peters
Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin
Journal of Physics: Conference Series
17426588 (ISSN) 17426596 (eISSN)
Vol. 723 1 Art. no. 012050- 012050Subject Categories (SSIF 2011)
Other Engineering and Technologies not elsewhere specified
Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics
Geophysics
Roots
Basic sciences
Infrastructure
Onsala Space Observatory
DOI
10.1088/1742-6596/723/1/012050