Limits to the sensitivity of a low noise compact atomic gravimeter

Understand

A detailed analysis of the most relevant sources of phase noise in an atomic interferometer is carried out, both theoretically and experimentally.

• Even a short interrogation time of 100 ms allows our cold atom gravimeter to reach an excellent short term sensitivity to acceleration of $1.4\times 10^{-8}$g at 1s.
• This result relies on the combination of a low phase noise laser system, efficient detection scheme and good shielding from vibrations.
• In particular, we describe a simple and robust technique of vibration compensation, which is based on correcting the interferometer signal by using the AC acceleration signal measured by a low noise seismometer.