Flattening Earth acceleration in atomic fountains

Abstract : acceleration is important in experiments where the coupling of the dynamics of free-falling probes to the gravity gradient generates stochastic noise on the measurement. Optimized cylindrically symmetric mass distributions lower Earth’s tidal effect over 10 cm by a factor 103. A multimass compensation system with comparable performance is devised for tall atom interferometers. Reducing the gravity gradient is essential in terrestrial experiments based on atom fountain configurations being developed to precisely test general relativity or the neutrality of matter.