Precision gravity measurements with cold atom interferometer
Abstract
Cold-atom interferometer based on stimulated Raman transition is interesting for both fundamental researches and precision measurements. Measuring <italic>g</italic>, the free fall acceleration, plays an important role in these applications. We describe the theory of atom interferometry, including the evolution of the atomic wavepacket in gravity field, the laser-atom interaction, and the interference of the atomic waves. In this article, we introduce the procedure of measuring <italic>g</italic> using atom interferometer, the experimental setup, and the tendency of the future development. The works of the domestic and international groups for <italic>g</italic> measurement are concluded. Furthermore, the noise limits and dominant systematic effects in atom gravimeters are analyzed. The suppressions of the background vibration, the Raman phase noise, and the evaluation of the main systematic effects, are introduced. Finally, the other applications using the atom interferometers for precision measurement are presented, such as in measuring the Newton’s gravitational constant, in testing the weak equivalence principle and the other fundamental applications in physics studies.
