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| Titel |
The new Absolute Quantum Gravimeter (AQG): first results and perspectives |
| VerfasserIn |
Sylvain Bonvalot, Nicolas Le Moigne, Sebastien Merlet, Bruno Desruelle, Jean Lautier-Gaud, Vincent Menoret, Pierre Vermeulen |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2016
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
en
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 18 (2016) |
| Datensatznummer |
250131417
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2016-11824.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Cold atom gravimetry represents one of the most innovative evolution in gravity
instrumentation since the last 20 years. The concept of measuring the gravitational
acceleration by dropping atoms and the development of the first instrumental devices
during this last decade quickly revealed the promising perspectives of this new
generation of gravity meters enabling accurate and absolute measurements of the Earth’s
gravity field for a wide range of applications (geophysics, geodesy, metrology,
etc.).
The Absolute Quantum Gravimeter (AQG) gravity meter, developed by MUQUANS
(Talence, France - http://www.muquans.com/) with the support of RESIF, the French
Seismologic and Geodetic Network (http://www.resif.fr/) belongs to this new generation of
instruments. It also represents the first commercial device based on the utilization of
advanced matter-wave interferometry techniques, which allow to characterize precisely the
vertical acceleration experienced by a cloud of cold atoms.
Recently, the first operational unit (AQG01) has been achieved as a compact transportable
gravimeter with the aim of satisfying absolute gravity measurements in laboratory conditions
under the following specifications: measurements the μGal level at a few Hz cycling
frequency, sensitivity of 50μGal/√Hz, immunity to ground vibrations, easy and
quickness of operation, automated continuous data acquisition for several months, etc.
In order to evaluate the current performances of the AQG01, several experiments
are carried out in collaboration between RESIF user’s teams and the MUQUANS
manufacturer on different reference gravity sites and laboratories in France. These
measurements performed in indoor conditions including simultaneous observations with
classical reference gravity instruments (corner-cube absolute gravity meters, relative
superconducting meters) as well with the Cold Atom Gravity meter (CAG) developed by
LNE-SYRTE, lead to a first objective characterization of the performances of the
AQG01.
This paper summarizes the latest results obtained from these experiments. The evaluation
of the AQG01 is still in progress but this study confirmed that the AQG01 enables absolute
gravity measurements with a sensitivity of 2 μGal standard deviation after 1000 s of data
integration. Perspectives of expected instrumental developments for monitoring both spatial
and temporal gravity variations at the microGal level in both laboratory and field conditions
will be also discussed. |
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