Precision measurement of gravity with cold atoms in an optical lattice and comparison with a classical gravimeter

Abstract

We report on a high precision measurement of gravitational acceleration using ultracold strontium atoms trapped in a vertical optical lattice. Using amplitude modulation of the lattice intensity, an uncertainty $\Delta g/g\approx 10^{-7}$ was reached by measuring at the 5${}^{th}$ harmonic of the Bloch oscillation frequency. After a careful analysis of systematic effects, the value obtained with this microscopic quantum system is consistent with the one we measured with a classical absolute gravimeter at the same location. This result is of relevance for the recent interpretation of related experiments as tests of gravitational redshift and opens the way to new tests of gravity at micrometer scale.

4 pages, 4 figures

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Cited by in corpus (12)

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• Measurement of the Gravity-Field Curvature by Atom Interferometry
• Physics at CERN's Antiproton Decelerator
• Delocalization-enhanced Bloch oscillations and driven resonant tunneling in optical lattices for precision force measurements
• Core-Shell Magneto-Optical Trap for Alkaline-Earth-Metal-Like Atoms
• Reservoir spectroscopy of 5s5p ${}^3$P${}_2$ - 5s$n$d ${}^3$D${}_{1,2,3}$ transitions in strontium
• Progress on accurate measurement of the Planck constant: watt balance and counting atoms
• Excitation of atoms in an optical lattice driven by polychromatic amplitude modulation
• Coherent control of quantum transport: modulation-enhanced phase detection and band spectroscopy
• Non-Dispersive, Accelerated Matter-Waves
• Interferometry with Atoms
• Landau-Stark states and cyclotron-Bloch oscillations of a quantum particle