Mobile quantum gravity sensor with unprecedented stability

TL;DR

This paper introduces a highly stable and accurate mobile quantum gravity sensor based on atom interferometry, capable of continuous absolute gravity measurements in challenging environments, advancing geodesy and earth sciences.

Contribution

The development and demonstration of the most stable and accurate mobile atomic gravimeter to date, enabling new applications in geodesy and natural resource exploration.

Findings

Achieved an accuracy of 39 nm/s^2 in gravity measurements.

Demonstrated long-term stability of 0.5 nm/s^2.

Showcased performance under rough environmental conditions.

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 $\mathrm{39\,nm/s^2}$ and long-term stability of $\mathrm{0.5\,nm/s^2}$ short-term noise of $96\,\mathrm{nm/s^2/\sqrt{Hz}}$. 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.