A new type of compact gravimeter for long-term absolute gravity monitoring

Abstract

Long-term absolute gravity monitoring has a wide range of applications in the field of geodesy, geophysics, seismology, volcanology, hydrology, etc. The traditional method of long-term absolute gravity monitoring is realized by the combination of absolute gravimeter and relative gravimeter. Here we report on a new type of compact gravimeter based on atom interferometry used for long-term absolute gravity measurements. The long-term absolute gravity monitoring could be carried out with only a single instrument. Over the course of a month we took long-term absolute gravity measurements in a seismic station. With an interrogation time of 120 ms and a repetition rate of 2 Hz, the sensitivity of our cold atom gravimeter reaches 300 µGal √ Hz −1 without any vibration isolation system, and the gravity residual fluctuations are within ±60 µGal.

High-accuracy inertial measurements with cold-atom sensors

“…59 ). Since then, the technology of atomic gravity sensors has considerably grown in maturity, as assessed by some major achievements, such as i) the participation since 2009 to CIPM Key Comparisons (KC) and Euramet comparisons of absolute gravimeters [60][61][62] , in 2017, even if not included in the 3 rd KC 63 , four atom gravimeters developed in China 39,[64][65][66] have participated to the associated pilot study; ii) the demonstration of on board measurements, in a ship 67 and a plane 68 and iii) the industrial development and commercial product offer of atom gravimeters at a competitive level of performance 69 . In total, about 30 research groups and private companies are today working on the development of atomic gravity sensors.…”

High-accuracy inertial measurements with cold-atom sensors

“…Projects aiming at more compact and transportable cold atom gravimeters started in the beginning of the 2000s, in particular at SYRTE 53 and HUB 54 , and later by the AOSense company in the USA. Since then, the technology of atomic gravity sensors has considerably grown in maturity, as assessed by some major achievements, such as i) the participation since 2009 to CIPM Key Comparisons (KC) and Euramet comparisons of absolute gravimeters [55][56][57] , in 2017, even if not included in the 3 rd KC 58 , four atom gravimeters developed in China 38,[59][60][61] have participated to the associated pilot study; ii) the demonstration of on board measurements, in a ship 62 and a plane 63 and iii) the industrial development and commercial product offer of atom gravimeters at a competitive level of performance 64 . In total, a HUB website: https://www.physics.hu-berlin.de/en/qom/research about 30 research groups and private companies are today working on the development of atomic gravity sensors.…”

High-accuracy gravity measurement with miniaturized quantum gravimeter

“…原子干涉式绝对重力仪是近30年快速发展起 来 的 量 子 绝 对 重 力 仪 [ 1 6 ] , 其 最 佳 分 辨 率 已 经 达 到4.2 µGal/ Hz , 其精度已经达到与FG-5相当的水 平 [17] . 该型重力仪的落体是冷原子团, 不存在机械磨 损等问题, 可以有效提升测量频率, 目前已经实现测 量频率为1-2 Hz [18][19][20] . [21,22] .…”