Concept study and preliminary design of a cold atom interferometer for space gravity gradiometry

A. Trimeche (1) , B. Battelier (2) , D Becker (3) , A. Bertoldi (2) , Philippe Bouyer (2) , C. Braxmaier (4, 5) , E. Charron (6) , R Corgier (3, 6) , M Cornelius (4) , K. Douch (7) , N. Gaaloul (3) , S. Herrmann (4) , J Müller (7) , E Rasel (3) , C Schubert (3) , H Wu (7) , Franck Pereira dos Santos (8)

1 SYRTE - Systèmes de Référence Temps Espace
2 LP2N - Laboratoire Photonique, Numérique et Nanosciences
3 IQ - Institut für Quantenoptik [Hannover]
4 ZARM - Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity
5 DLR Institute of Space Systems
6 ISMO - Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d'Orsay
7 Institut für Erdmessung (IfE)
8 SYRTE - Systèmes de Référence Temps Espace

We study a space-based gravity gradiometer based on cold atom interferometry and its potential for the Earth's gravitational field mapping. The instrument architecture has been proposed in [Carraz et al., Microgravity Science and Technology 26, 139 (2014)] and enables high-sensitivity measurements of gravity gradients by using atom interferometers in a differential accelerometer configuration. We present the design of the instrument including its subsystems and analyze the mission scenario, for which we derive the expected instrument performances, the requirements on the sensor and its key subsystems, and the expected impact on the recovery of the Earth gravity field.

Domains: Atomic Physics [physics.atom-ph]; Space Physics [physics.space-ph]; Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]

A. Trimeche, B. Battelier, D Becker, A. Bertoldi, Philippe Bouyer, et al.. Concept study and preliminary design of a cold atom interferometer for space gravity gradiometry. 2019. ⟨hal-02070220⟩