Stuttgart 2012 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 34: Poster 1

Q 34.87: Poster

Tuesday, March 13, 2012, 16:30–19:00, Poster.I+II

A mobile high-precision atom interferometer to measure local gravity — •Matthias Hauth, Vladimir Schkolnik, Christian Freier, Alexander Senger, Malte Schmidt, and Achim Peters — Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institut für Physik, AG Optische Metrologie, Newtonstr. 15, 12489 Berlin

GAIN (Gravimetric Atom Interferometer) is a mobile and robust gravimeter that is being developed for precision measurements of the gravitational field. It is based on ensembles of laser cooled ⁸⁷Rb atoms which interfere in a Mach-Zehnder type interferometer realized by means of Raman transitions between the hyperfine ground states.

Here we present the latest version of our experimental setup that has reached a sensitivity of 2x10⁻⁸g/√Hz during the first measurement campaign. We discuss ongoing work, as well as future improvements, to reach our targeted absolute accuracy of a few parts in 10¹⁰. These include an upgrade of our active vibration isolation system, which has an effective resonance frequency of less than 1/30 Hz, by an active tilt unit compensating for phase shifts due to Coriolis forces.