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Geophysical and Geochemical Exploration

THE APPLICATION OF ATOM INTERFEROMETER TO THE MEASUREMENT OF GRAVITATIONAL ACCELERATION

Zhang Chang

Published Jan 1, 2000• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

This paper has described and reviewed the pinciples,expermental set up and observational results of applying atom interferometer to measuring the earth's gravitational acceleration.This method was developed by Nobelist Steven Chu,M.Kaservich,A.Peters et al.,who demonstrated a resolution of 10 -10 .The application of this technique to geophysics and the related problems are also discussed.

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This paper has described and reviewed the pinciples,expermental set up and observational results of applying atom interferometer to measuring the earth's gravitational acceleration.This method was developed by Nobelist Steven Chu,M.Kaservich,A.Peters et al.,who demonstrated a resolution of 10 -10 .The application of this technique to geophysics and the related problems are also discussed.
The acceleration due to gravity, g, can be measured simply by timing how long it takes an object to fall. One can accomplish this with great precision by orienting an optical interferometer so that one of its arms is vertical. If the mirror in that arm is then allowed to fall pan way, a Doppler shift in the reflected light signals its rate of fall. A similar measurement can now be done just as accurately with falling atoms (whose atomic frequencies are Doppler shifted), thanks to a long-term effort by a group at Stanford University. Achim Peters, Keng Yeow Chung, and Steven Chu recently reported that their atom interferometer has determined g to within three parts per billion.
We describe two experiments where atom interferometry is applied for precision measurements of gravitational effects. In the first, we measure the Newtonian gravitational constant G using an atom interferometry gravity-gradiometer which combines a rubidium fountain, a juggling scheme for fast launch of two atomic clouds, and Raman interferometry. We show that the sensor is able to detect the gravitational field produced by source masses and G is measured with better than 10-2 accuracy. In the second experiment, using ultra-cold strontium atoms in a vertical optical lattice and observing persistent Bloch oscillations for several seconds, we measure gravity acceleration with micromet-ric spatial resolution. We discuss the prospects for the study of gravitational forces at short distances and show that unexplored regions can be investigated in the search for deviations from Newtonian gravity.
The past three decades have shown dramatic progress in the ability to manipulate and coherently control the motion of atoms. This exquisite control offers the prospect of a new generation of inertial sensors with unprecedented sensitivity and accuracy, which will be important for both fundamental and applied science. In this article, we review some of our recent results regarding the application of atom interferometry to inertial measurements using compact, mobile sensors. This includes some of the first interferometer measurements with cold 39^{39}39K atoms, which is a major step toward achieving a transportable, dual-species interferometer with rubidium and potassium for equivalence principle tests. We also discuss future applications of this technology, such as remote sensing of geophysical effects, gravitational wave detection, and precise tests of the weak equivalence principle in Space.