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Physical Review A

Bragg interferometer for gravity gradient measurements

Giulio D'Amico, Filippo Borselli, L. Cacciapuoti, M. Prevedelli, G. Rosi, Fiodor Sorrentino, Guglielmo Maria Tino

Published Jun 22, 2016• 37 citations
Publisher

Abstract

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.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.93.063628

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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×\else\texttimes\fi10\ensuremath−8s\ensuremath−22.6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}8}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}2}2.6\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi10\ensuremath−8s\ensuremath−2 (26 E) after 2000s2000\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{s}2000s of integration time.
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/Hz\sqrt{\text{Hz}}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 GGG at the level of ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ after an integration time of about 100 h.
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 670E/Hz1/2670 \mathrm{E}/{Hz}^{1/2}670E/Hz1/2 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.
Quantum interferometer gravity gradiometer for 3D mapping is a project for developing the technology of atom interferometer-based gravity sensor in space. The atom interferometer utilizes atomic particles as free fall test masses to measure inertial forces with unprecedented sensitivity and precision. It also allows measurements of the gravity gradient tensor components for 3D mapping of subsurface mass distribution. The overall approach is based on recent advances of laser cooling and manipulation of atoms in atomic and optical physics. Atom interferometers have been demonstrated in research laboratories for gravity and gravity gradient measurements. In this approach, atoms are first laser cooled to micro-kelvin temperatures. Then they are allowed to freefall in vacuum as true drag-free test masses. During the free fall, a sequence of laser pulses is used to split and recombine the atom waves to realize the interferometric measurements. We have demonstrated atom interferometer operation in the Phase I period, and we are implementing the second generation for a complete gradiometer demonstration unit in the laboratory. Along with this development, we are developing technologies at component levels that will be more suited for realization of a space instrument. We will present an update of these developments and discuss the future directions of the quantum gravity gradiometer project.
We present a precision gravimeter based on coherent Bragg diffraction of freely falling cold atoms. Traditionally, atomic gravimeters have used stimulated Raman transitions to separate clouds in momentum space by driving transitions between two internal atomic states. Bragg interferometers utilize only a single internal state, and can therefore be less susceptible to environmental perturbations. Here we show that atoms extracted from a magneto-optical trap using an accelerating optical lattice are a suitable source for a Bragg atom interferometer, allowing efficient beamsplitting and subsequent separation of momentum states for detection. Despite the inherently multi-state nature of atom diffraction, we are able to build a Mach–Zehnder interferometer using Bragg scattering which achieves a sensitivity to the gravitational acceleration of Δ g / g = 2.7 × 10 −9 with an integration time of 1000 s. The device can also be converted to a gravity gradiometer by a simple modification of the light pulse sequence.