On the effect of distortion and dispersion in fringe signal of the FG5 absolute gravimeters

Abstract

The knowledge of absolute gravity acceleration at the level of 1 × 10−9 is needed in geosciences (e.g. for monitoring crustal deformations and mass transports) and in metrology for watt balance experiments related to the new SI definition of the unit of kilogram. The gravity reference, which results from the international comparisons held with the participation of numerous absolute gravimeters, is significantly affected by qualities of instruments prevailing in the comparisons (i.e. at present, FG5 gravimeters). Therefore, it is necessary to thoroughly investigate all instrumental (particularly systematic) errors. This paper deals with systematic errors of the FG5#215 coming from the distorted fringe signal and from the electronic dispersion at several electronic components including cables. In order to investigate these effects, we developed a new experimental system for acquiring and analysing the data parallel to the FG5 built-in system. The new system based on the analogue-to-digital converter with digital waveform processing using the FFT swept band pass filter is developed and tested on the FG5#215 gravimeter equipped with a new fast analogue output. The system is characterized by a low timing jitter, digital handling of the distorted swept signal with determination of zero-crossings for the fundamental frequency sweep and also for its harmonics and can be used for any gravimeter based on the laser interferometry. Comparison of the original FG5 system and the experimental systems is provided on g-values, residuals and additional measurements/models. Moreover, advanced approach for the solution of the free-fall motion is presented, which allows to take into account a non-linear gravity change with height.