Current Research Projects – Institute of Geodesy

Establishing an Advanced Mexican Gravity Standardization Base

This joint research project serves for following main scientific objectives: a) supporting the realization of a state of the art national gravity standard in Mexico fulfilling highest accuracy demands in metrology, b) supporting the establishment of a base for a national reference frame for geo-scientific purposes, c) supporting the improvement of a global gravity potential field model for fundamental research in earth science

Leaders: Dr.-Ing. Ludger Timmen

Team: Dr.-Ing. Ludger Timmen, M.Sc. Manuel Schilling

Year: 2016

Sponsors: Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Braunschweig

A mobile absolute gravimeter based on atom interferometry for highly accurate point observations

Atom interferometers have demonstrated a high sensitivity to inertial forces. The Gravimetric Atom Interferometer (GAIN), developed at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, is a mobile atom interferometer based on interfering ensembles of laser-cooled Rb-87 atoms in an atomic fountain configuration. In the continued development state-of-the-art superconductiong gravimeters and laser-interferometer based absolute gravimeters are used for comparisons with and the characterization of GAIN.

Leaders: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Müller

Team: M. Sc. Manuel Schilling

Year: 2012

Sponsors: DFG

Traceability of the FG5X-220 to the SI units

The Micro-g LaCoste FG5 is a free-fall gravimeter with a laser interferometer in Mach-Zehnder congfiuration which uses simultaneous time and distance measurements to calculate the absolute value of g. The instrument itself contains the necessary standards, a rubidium oscillator and a He-Ne Laser, and operates independent of external references. These internal standards need regular comparisons.

Leaders: Dr.-Ing. Ludger Timmen

Team: Dr.-Ing. Ludger Timmen, M. Sc. Manuel Schilling

Year: 2012