Exploring the Gravito‐Optic Effect for Gravity Sensing Applications

Accurate measurements of Earth gravity and its variations with time are crucial not only for fundamental research on gravitation in physics, but also for other scientific areas including Earth sciences and geophysics, as well for various applications such as geodesy, resource exploration, climate monitoring and navigation. Current test mass-based gravimeters are inherently sensitive to vibrations and inertia accelerations, which limits their sensitivity and accuracy in moving platform applications. Here we report an optical fibre sensing system designed for measuring gravity by exploring a recently demonstrated gravito-optic effect. Initial test results show photonics-based solid-state gravimeters with fast data sampling rates but without any moving parts in the systems could be feasible and novel gravity measurement technologies could be developed for moving platform continuous gravimetry, particularly for airborne gravity mapping and underwater navigation applications.