Absolute Quantum Gravimeters and Gradiometers for Field Measurements

Gravity measurements provide valuable information on the mass distribution below the earth surface relevant to various areas of geosciences such as hydrology, geodesy, geophysics, volcanology, and natural resources management. During the past decades, the needs for sensitivity, robustness, compactness, and transportability of instruments measuring the gravitational acceleration have constantly increased. Today, applications typically call for 1 mu Gal = 10 nm s(2) similar to 10(-9) resolution on time scales ranging from minutes to years. Absolute Quantum Gravimeters (AQGs) based on matterwave interferometry with laser-cooled atoms address all these challenges at once, even in uncontrolled environments [1], [2]. Furthermore, to date, quantum gravimeters are the only technology capable of providing continuous absolute gravity data over long measurement durations (similar to 1 day to months or more). In this paper, we recall the AQG working principle and present the reproducible high performance at the mu Gal level on all 16 units fabricated so far. We also describe recent progress on the Differential Quantum Gravimeter (DQG) which measures simultaneously the mean gravitational acceleration and its vertical gradient at the level of 10 nm/s(2) and 1 E (1 Eeotvos] = 10(-9) s(-2)), respectively [3].