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arXiv:1312.3741 · Physical Review A

Sensitivity limits of a Raman atom interferometer as a gravity gradiometer

Fiodor Sorrentino, Quentin Bodart, L. Cacciapuoti, Yu-Hung Lien, M. Prevedelli, G. Rosi, Leonardo Salvi, Guglielmo Maria Tino

Published Feb 10, 2014• 229 citations

Abstract

We evaluate the sensitivity of a dual cloud atom interferometer to the measurement of vertical gravity gradient. We study the influence of most relevant experimental parameters on noise and long term drifts. Results are also applied to the case of doubly differential measurements of the gravitational signal from local source masses. We achieve a short-term sensitivity of $3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}9}$ g/$\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$ to differential gravity acceleration, limited by the quantum projection noise of the instrument. Active control of the most critical parameters allows us to reach a resolution of $5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}11}$ g after 8000 s on the measurement of differential gravity acceleration. The long-term stability is compatible with a measurement of the gravitational constant $G$ at the level of ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ after an integration time of about 100 h.

DOI: 10.1103/physreva.89.023607

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Physical Review A•Aug 11, 2014•81 citations

We evaluate the sensitivity of a dual cloud atom interferometer to the measurement of vertical gravity gradient. We study the influence of most relevant experimental parameters on noise and long term drifts. Results are also applied to the case of doubly differential measurements of the gravitational signal from local source masses. We achieve a short-term sensitivity of

3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}9}

g/

\sqrt{\text{Hz}}

to differential gravity acceleration, limited by the quantum projection noise of the instrument. Active control of the most critical parameters allows us to reach a resolution of

5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}11}

g after 8000 s on the measurement of differential gravity acceleration. The long-term stability is compatible with a measurement of the gravitational constant

G

at the level of

{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}

after an integration time of about 100 h.

We here present a high sensitivity gravity-gradiometer based on atom interferometry. In our apparatus, two clouds of laser-cooled rubidium atoms are launched in fountain configuration and interrogated by a Raman interferometry sequence to probe the gradient of gravity field. We recently implemented a high-flux atomic source and a newly designed Raman lasers system in the instrument set-up. We discuss the applications towards a precise determination of the Newtonian gravitational constant G. The long-term stability of the instrument and the signal-to-noise ratio demonstrated here open interesting perspectives for pushing the measurement precision below the 100 ppm level.

Atom interferometry offers new perspectives for geophysics and inertial sensing. We present the industrial prototype of a quantum-based instrument: a compact, transportable, differential quantum gravimeter capable of measuring simultaneously the absolute values of both gravitational acceleration

g

and its vertical gradient ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}}_{zz}$. While the sensitivity to

g

is competitive with the best industrial gravimeters, the sensitivity on ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}}_{zz}$ reaches the limit set by quantum projection noise---leading to a long-term stability of

0.1\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{E}

($1\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{E}=1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}9}\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$). This dual-purpose instrument constitutes the industrial integration of cold atom sensors for practical applications. It paves the way for different applications in geophysics, civil engineering, and gravity-aided navigation, where accurate mapping of the gravitational field plays an important role.

We report on the characterization of a dual cloud atom interferometer for gravity gradient measurements using third-order Bragg diffraction as atom optical elements. We study the dependence of the contrast and the gradiometer phase angle against the relevant experimental parameters and characterize the instrument sensitivity. We achieve a sensitivity to gravity gradient measurements of $2.6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}8}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$ (26 E) after

2000\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{s}

of integration time.

As part of a program to determine the gravitational constant G using multiple independent methods in the same laboratory, an atom gravity gradiometer is being developed. The gradiometer is designed with two magneto-optical traps to ensure both the fast simultaneous launch of two atomic clouds and an optimized configuration of source masses. Here, the design of the G measurement by atom interferometry is detailed, and the experimental setup of the atom gravity gradiometer is reported. A preliminary sensitivity of 3 × 10−9 g/Hz to differential gravity acceleration is obtained, which corresponds to 99 E/Hz (1 E = 10−9 s−2) for the gradiometer with a baseline of 0.3 m. This provides access to measuring G at the level of less than 200 parts per million in the first experimental stage.

We report a gravity gradiometer composed of two atom interferometers which are simultaneously locked to the respective fringe center by feedback control of the Raman laser phase and magnetic field gradient. Compared with the conventional full-fringe recording method, this dual-fringe-locking strategy is capable of increasing the sampling rate and improving the sensitivity for gravity gradient measurements. Meanwhile, it retains the intrinsic advantage of rejecting common mode noises for gravity gradiometers. A short-term sensitivity of

g

with a 0.25 Hz sampling rate is achieved in our gravity gradiometer. This approach may also find possible applications in other atom-interferometry-based experiments utilizing dual atomic clouds.