Absolute marine gravimetry with matter-wave interferometry

TLDR

Onboard gravimetry is essential for geodesy, exploration, and navigation, yet only relative sensors exist, causing calibration and drift issues, and although atom interferometry shows high performance in static tests, precise dynamic measurements have not been demonstrated. This study aims to demonstrate absolute gravity measurements aboard a ship using an atom‑interferometry sensor. The sensor employs atom interferometry to directly measure absolute gravity while the vessel moves, enabling dynamic data acquisition. The device achieved sub‑10⁻⁵ m s⁻² precision under rough sea conditions, outperformed a commercial spring gravimeter, and suggests that atom‑based inertial sensors can provide high‑precision absolute measurements on moving platforms.

Abstract

Abstract Measuring gravity from an aircraft or a ship is essential in geodesy, geophysics, mineral and hydrocarbon exploration, and navigation. Today, only relative sensors are available for onboard gravimetry. This is a major drawback because of the calibration and drift estimation procedures which lead to important operational constraints. Atom interferometry is a promising technology to obtain onboard absolute gravimeter. But, despite high performances obtained in static condition, no precise measurements were reported in dynamic. Here, we present absolute gravity measurements from a ship with a sensor based on atom interferometry. Despite rough sea conditions, we obtained precision below 10 −5 m s −2 . The atom gravimeter was also compared with a commercial spring gravimeter and showed better performances. This demonstration opens the way to the next generation of inertial sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope) based on atom interferometry which should provide high-precision absolute measurements from a moving platform.