Abstract
We present a new measurement of the Newtonian gravitational constant based on cold-atom interferometry. Freely falling samples of laser-cooled rubidium atoms are used in a gravity gradiometer to probe the field generated by nearby source masses. In addition to its potential sensitivity, this method is intriguing as gravity is explored by a quantum system. We report a value of , estimating a statistical uncertainty of and a systematic uncertainty of . The long-term stability of the instrument and the signal-to-noise ratio demonstrated here open interesting perspectives for pushing the measurement accuracy below the 100 ppm level.
- Received 28 August 2007
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.050801
©2008 American Physical Society