Bragg interferometer for gravity gradient measurements

Abstract

We report on the characterization of a dual cloud atom interferometer for gravity gradient measurements using third-order Bragg diffraction as atom optical elements. We study the dependence of the contrast and the gradiometer phase angle against the relevant experimental parameters and characterize the instrument sensitivity. We achieve a sensitivity to gravity gradient measurements of $2.6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}8}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$ (26 E) after $2000\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{s}$ of integration time.