Compact atomic gravimeter based on a pulsed and accelerated optical lattice

Manuel Andia (1) , Raphael Jannin (1) , François Nez (1) , François Biraben (1) , Saïda Guellati-Khélifa (2) , Pierre Cladé (1)

1 Métrologie des systèmes simples et tests fondamentaux / Metrology of Simple Systems and Fundamental Tests
2 LKB (Jussieu) - Laboratoire Kastler Brossel

We present a new scheme of compact atomic gravimeter based on atom interferometry. Atoms are maintained against gravity using a sequence of coherent accelerations performed by the Bloch oscillations technique. We demonstrate a sensitivity of 4.8$\times 10^{-8}$ with an integration time of 4 min. Combining this method with an atomic elevator allows to measure the local gravity at different positions in the vacuum chamber. This method can be of relevance to improve the measurement of the Newtonian gravitational constant $G$.

Mots clés: Cold atoms; atom interferometry; gravimeter

Domaines: Physique Quantique [quant-ph]

Manuel Andia, Raphael Jannin, François Nez, François Biraben, Saïda Guellati-Khélifa, et al.. Compact atomic gravimeter based on a pulsed and accelerated optical lattice. 2013. ⟨hal-00859285⟩