Investigation of the thermal adaptability for a mobile cold atom gravimeter

The cold atom gravimeter offers the prospect of a new generation of inertial sensors for field applications. We accomplish a mobile atom gravimeter. With the compact and stable system, a sensitivity of 1.4×10^-7 g·Hz^-1/2 is achieved. Moreover, a continuous gravity monitoring of 80 h is carried out. However, the harsh outdoor environment is a big challenge for the atom gravimeter when it is for field applications. In this paper, we present the preliminary investigation of the thermal adaptability for our mobile cold atom gravimeter. Here, we focus on the influence of the air temperature on the performance of the atom gravimeter. The responses to different factors (such as laser power, fiber coupling efficiency, etc.) are evaluated when there is a great temperature shift of 10℃. The result is that the performances of all the factors deteriorate to different extent, nevertheless, they can easily recover as the temperature comes back. Finally, we conclude that the variation of air temperature induces the increase of noise and the system error of the atom gravimeter as well, while the process is reversible with the recovery of the temperature.