Mobile quantum gravity sensor with unprecedented stability

authored by: C. Freier, M. Hauth, V. Schkolnik, B. Leykauf, M. Schilling, H. Wziontek, H. G. Scherneck, J. Müller, A. Peters
Abstract: 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 39nm/s², long-term stability of 0.5nm/s² and short-term noise of 96nm/s²/√Hz. 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.
Organisation(s): Institute of Geodesy
External Organisation(s): Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Type: Conference article
Journal: Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Volume: 723
ISSN: 1742-6588
Publication date: 01.06.2016
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Physics and Astronomy(all)
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/723/1/012050 (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.15488/705 (Access: Open)
: Details in the research portal "Research@Leibniz University"

BibTeX

@article{ff25ea3df4f64204869c105ab589a322,
title = "Mobile quantum gravity sensor with unprecedented stability",
abstract = "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 39nm/s2, long-term stability of 0.5nm/s2 and short-term noise of 96nm/s2/√Hz. 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.",
author = "C. Freier and M. Hauth and V. Schkolnik and B. Leykauf and M. Schilling and H. Wziontek and Scherneck, {H. G.} and J. M{\"u}ller and A. Peters",
note = "Funding information: This material is based on work funded by the European Commission (FINAQS, Contr. No. 012986-2 NEST), by ESA (SAI, Contr. No. 20578/07/NL/VJ) and by ESF/DFG (EuroQUASAR-IQS, DFG grant PE 904/2-1 and PE 904/4-1).; 8th Symposium on Frequency Standards and Metrology 2015 ; Conference date: 12-10-2015 Through 16-10-2015",
year = "2016",
month = jun,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1088/1742-6596/723/1/012050",
language = "English",
volume = "723",
journal = "Journal of Physics: Conference Series",
issn = "1742-6588",
publisher = "IOP Publishing Ltd.",
number = "1",
}