Interferometric pendulum gravimeter, and method for same

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention may be generally related to methods, devices, and systems which measure a gravitational field. The methods and devices may utilize an interferometer to measure tilt of a pendulum, where the tilt of the pendulum is due to a gravitational force associated with a target object. In some embodiments, the interferometer may be a displaced, even parity, Sagnac interferometer. Additionally, the interferometer may be operated in the inverse weak value domain. In some embodiments, the pendulum and interferometric readout may measure relative gravitational fields that are transverse to Earth's gravitational field. In at least some embodiments, methods and devices may have shot noise limited sensitivity sufficient to detect one kilogram 25 meters away and may have a 1 nGal resolution after mere seconds of integration. Embodiments disclosed may be used to gravitationally map density fluctuations in a target object, including the human body.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.