Mobile quantum gravity sensor with unprecedented stability

Abstract

Changes of surface gravity on Earth are of great interest in geodesy, earth sciencesand natural resource exploration. They are indicative of Earth system's mass redistributions andvertical surface motion, and are usually measured with falling corner-cube- and superconductinggravimeters (FCCG and SCG). Here we report on absolute gravity measurements with amobile quantum gravimeter based on atom interferometry. The measurements were conductedin Germany and Sweden over periods of several days with simultaneous SCG and FCCGcomparisons. They show the best-reported performance of mobile atomic gravimeters todate with an accuracy of 39 nm/s^2, long-term stability of 0,5 nm/s^2 and short-term noise of 96 nm/s^2/(Hz)^1/2. These measurements highlight the unique properties of atomic sensors. Theachieved level of performance in a transportable instrument enables new applications in geodesyand related Fields, such as continuous absolute gravity monitoring with a single instrument underrough environmental conditions.