Geodesy and metrology with a transportable optical clock
Abstract
The advent of novel measurement instrumentation can lead to paradigm shifts in scientific research. Optical atomic clocks, due to their unprecedented stability and uncertainty, are already being used to test physical theories and herald a revision of the International System of units (SI). However, to unlock their potential for cross-disciplinary applications such as relativistic geodesy, a major challenge remains. This is their transformation from highly specialized instruments restricted to national metrology laboratories into flexible devices deployable in different locations. Here we report the first field measurement campaign performed with a ubiquitously applicable Sr optical lattice clock. We use it to determine the gravity potential difference between the middle of a mountain and a location 90 km apart, exploiting both local and remote clock comparisons to eliminate potential clock errors. A local comparison with a Yb lattice clock also serves as an important check on the international consistency of independently developed optical clocks. This campaign demonstrates the exciting prospects for transportable optical clocks.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1705.04089,
title = {Geodesy and metrology with a transportable optical clock},
author = {Jacopo Grotti and Silvio Koller and Stefan Vogt and Sebastian Häfner and Uwe Sterr and Christian Lisdat and Heiner Denker and Christian Voigt and Ludger Timmen and Antoine Rolland and Fred N. Baynes and Helen S. Margolis and Michel Zampaolo and Pierre Thoumany and Marco Pizzocaro and Benjamin Rauf and Filippo Bregolin and Anna Tampellini and Piero Barbieri and Massimo Zucco and Giovanni A. Costanzo and Cecilia Clivati and Filippo Levi and Davide Calonico},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1705.04089},
year = {2018}
}