Airborne absolute gravimetry with a quantum sensor, comparison with classical technologies

TL;DR

This study demonstrates the potential of quantum atom interferometry for airborne absolute gravimetry, showing comparable accuracy to classical methods and highlighting its suitability for mapping challenging terrains.

Contribution

First application of quantum atom interferometry in airborne gravimetry, comparing its performance with classical technologies and validating its effectiveness.

Findings

Quantum gravimeter errors range from 0.6 to 1.3 mGal.

Quantum and iMAR gravimeters have similar errors, but quantum has better long-term stability.

Quantum gravimeter agrees within 2 mGal with other gravity data.

Abstract

We report an airborne gravity survey with an absolute gravimeter based on atom interferometry and two relative gravimeters: a classical LaCoste\&Romberg (L\&R) and a novel iMAR strap-down Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU). We estimated measurement errors for the quantum gravimeter ranging from 0.6 to 1.3 mGal depending on the flight conditions and the filtering used. Similar measurement errors are obtained with iMAR strapdown gravimeter but the long term stability is five times worse. The traditional L\&R platform gravimeter shows larger measurement errors (3 - 4 mGal). Airborne measurements have been compared to marine, land and altimetry derived gravity data. We obtain a good agreement for the quantum gravimeter with standard deviations and means on differences below or equal to 2 mGal. This study confirms the potential of quantum technology for absolute airborne gravimetry which is particularly interesting for mapping shallow water or mountainous areas and for linking ground and satellite measurements with homogeneous absolute referencing.