Abstract
We report the demonstration of a sensitive absolute-gravity gradiometer based on light-pulse atom-interference techniques. The gradiometer consists of two absolute accelerometers operated in a differential mode. We report a differential acceleration sensitivity of and an inferred differential acceleration accuracy of less than This corresponds to a gravity-gradient sensitivity of and an accuracy of better than for a 10-m separation between accelerometers. We demonstrate that the instrument can be used to detect nearby masses in a vibrationally noisy environment and characterize instrument sensitivity to spurious acceleration and rotation noise.
- Received 25 May 2001
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.65.033608
©2002 American Physical Society