Integrated levitated optomechanical gravimeter

集成悬浮光机重力计

• 批准号: EP/V000624/1
• 负责人: Jize Yan
• 金额: $ 106.6万
• 依托单位: University of Southampton
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FV000624%2F1
• 关键词: Integrated; levitated; optomechanical; gravimeter

Current highly sensitive gravimeters, such as superconducting spheres, atom interferometers, and torsion pendulums, suffer from high manufacture and maintenance cost (up to £400k), bulky size (as large as 2.5m^3) and slow measurement speed (typically 1 hour). Here we propose an exciting innovation in quantifying gravity, based on the frequency measurement of the gravity-induced precession in an optically levitated fast-spinning particle. This novel levitated optomechanical systems (LOMS) gravimeter can be fabricated on a silicon wafer with wafer-level vacuum encapsulation, making its footprint as small as one mm^2. The small size device is mass-producible with a fabrication cost potentially less than £4k. The proposed research uses the analogy of the precession of the Earth, a slow and continuous change in the orientation of the Earth's rotational axis induced by the gravity of the sun, to develop the novel gravimeter. In December 2018, our research for the first time revealed that the precessional motion also appears in sophisticatedly designed LOMS and that optical scattering techniques can precisely measure the frequency of precession [U9]. Our calculation predicts that levitated rotating particles of 10um diameter can achieve the sensitivity of 10^-9 g/sqrt(Hz) and a very fast-spinning particle (GHz reported in 2018 [x19]) can achieve 10^-11 g/sqrt(Hz) sensitivity, respectively. The novel gravimeter can also measure the acceleration due to the Einstein equivalence principle. Thanks to the ultra-high Quality-factor (7.7x10^11 demonstrated in 2017 [x3]) of the rotating particles, the novel sensor will have the potential to cover 11 orders of magnitude of acceleration measurement. Moreover, using the advanced silicon fabrication technique, we will be able to differentiate the centre-of-mass and the centre-of-optical-force of the levitated particle, in order to optimise the range of the gravity (or acceleration) induced torque, and correspondingly design the sensing range and sensitivity of the acceleration, e.g. 10^-6 m/s^2 to 10^5 m/s^2 to cover the seismic and mining health monitoring applications or 1 m/s^2 to 10^11 m/s^2 for fundamental physics research. The sensor only requires short integration times (1ns to 100s, depend on the precession frequency). Thus, it can complete the measurement very rapidly. This novel precession sensing principle can also be utilised to measure force, strain, charge and mass, with similar ultra-wide dynamic range and ultra-high sensitivity potentially.The innovative gravimeter (accelerometer) can be a powerful tool for investigating fundamental physics questions in gravitation, which are pressing and very hard to access experimentally due to the weakness of the gravitational interaction if compared to other interactions. The proposed research can also provide a platform for quantum manipulation of mesoscopic mechanical devices in the nano-scale regime and can serve as a testbed for theoretical predictions.Furthermore, our novel sensor can equipt the oil and gas industry with its applications in CO2-EOR and exploration. It can track temporal and spatial variations of the gravitational field and provide highly accurate information of mass redistribution below the surface. The prototype on-chip LOMS gravimeter has a small footprint so that it can be installed close to the drilling bit. Based on Newton's law of universal gravitation, the gravimeter has the potential to detect 1.5x10^7 kg mass redistribution above the ground, and 1.5x10^5 kg mass redistribution inside the wellbore. The sensitivity of the novel gravimeters installed inside wellbores can be four orders of magnitude better than that of the existing highly sensitive gravimeters. Our research also contributes to CSS, mineral exploration, structural safety monitoring for mining, earthquake warning, inertial navigation and geoscience, and can lead to significant cost savings in multiple industries.

目前的高灵敏度重力仪，如超导球、原子干涉仪和扭转仪，具有制造和维护成本高（高达40万英镑）、体积大（高达2.5 m^3）和测量速度慢（通常为1小时）的缺点。在这里，我们提出了一个令人兴奋的创新，在量化重力的基础上，在光悬浮的快速自旋粒子的重力诱导进动的频率测量。这种新型的悬浮光机系统（LOMS）重力仪可以在硅片上制造，并采用晶圆级真空封装，使其占地面积小至1 mm^2。小尺寸设备可大规模生产，制造成本可能低于4k英镑。拟议的研究使用地球岁差的类比，即太阳引力引起的地球旋转轴方向的缓慢和连续变化，以开发新型重力仪。2018年12月，我们的研究首次揭示了旋进运动也出现在精心设计的LOMS中，并且光学散射技术可以精确测量旋进频率[U9]。我们的计算预测，直径为10 μ m的悬浮旋转粒子可以实现10^-9 g/sqrt（Hz）的灵敏度，非常快速旋转的粒子（2018年报道的GHz [x19]）可以分别实现10^-11 g/sqrt（Hz）的灵敏度。由于爱因斯坦等效原理，这种新型重力仪还可以测量加速度。由于旋转粒子的超高质量因子（2017年证明为7.7x10^11），这种新型传感器将有可能覆盖11个数量级的加速度测量。此外，利用先进的硅制造技术，我们将能够区分悬浮粒子的质心和光力中心，以优化重力范围（或加速度）感应转矩，并相应设计加速度的传感范围和灵敏度，例如，10^-6 m/s^2至10^5 m/s^2用于地震和采矿健康监测应用，或1 m/s^2至10^11 m/s^2用于基础物理研究。该传感器只需要很短的积分时间（1 ns至100 s，取决于进动频率）。因此，它可以非常快速地完成测量。这种新颖的进动传感原理还可以用于测量力、应变、电荷和质量，具有类似的超宽动态范围和超高灵敏度。创新的重力仪（加速度计）可以成为研究引力中基本物理问题的有力工具，这些问题是紧迫的，并且由于与其他相互作用相比，引力相互作用的弱点很难通过实验获得。该研究还为介观力学器件在纳米尺度下的量子操纵提供了平台，并可作为理论预测的试验平台，此外，我们的新型传感器可装备石油和天然气工业，用于CO2-EOR和勘探。它可以跟踪重力场的时间和空间变化，并提供高度精确的地表以下质量再分布信息。原型片上LOMS重力仪占地面积小，因此可以安装在靠近钻头的位置。根据牛顿万有引力定律，重力仪有可能检测到地面上方1.5x10^7 kg的质量再分布，以及井筒内部1.5x10^5 kg的质量再分布。安装在井内的新型重力仪的灵敏度可以比现有的高灵敏度重力仪的灵敏度高四个数量级。我们的研究还有助于CSS，矿产勘探，采矿结构安全监测，地震预警，惯性导航和地球科学，并可以在多个行业中节省大量成本。

项目成果

Gravitational Decoherence and the Possibility of Its Interferometric Detection.

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.126.200403
• 发表时间: 2019-12
• 期刊: Physical review letters
• 影响因子: 8.6
• 作者: L. Asprea;A. Bassi;H. Ulbricht;G. Gasbarri

Ferromagnetic gyroscopes for tests of fundamental physics

• DOI: 10.1088/2058-9565/abd892
• 发表时间: 2021-04-01
• 期刊: QUANTUM SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
• 影响因子: 6.7
• 作者: Fadeev, Pavel;Timberlake, Chris;Kimball, Derek F. Jackson
• 通讯作者: Kimball, Derek F. Jackson

Collapse Models: A Theoretical, Experimental and Philosophical Review.

• DOI: 10.3390/e25040645
• 发表时间: 2023-04-12
• 期刊: Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)

Test quantum mechanics in space - invest US$1 billion.

在太空测试量子力学——投资 10 亿美元。

• DOI: 10.1038/d41586-021-02091-8
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Nature
• 影响因子: 64.8
• 作者: Belenchia A

A way forward for fundamental physics in space.

• DOI: 10.1038/s41526-022-00229-0
• 发表时间: 2022-11-02
• 期刊: NPJ MICROGRAVITY
• 影响因子: 5.1
• 作者: Bassi, A.;Cacciapuoti, L.;Capozziello, S.;Dell'Agnello, S.;Diamanti, E.;Giulini, D.;Iess, L.;Jetzer, P.;Joshi, S. K.;Landragin, A.;Le Poncin-Lafitte, C.;Rasel, E.;Roura, A.;Salomon, C.;Ulbricht, H.
• 通讯作者: Ulbricht, H.