Accuracy and stability evaluation of the 85 Rb atom gravimeter WAG-H5-1 at the 2017 International Comparison of Absolute Gravimeters

Abstract We report on the realization and evaluation of the 85 Rb mobile atom absolute gravimeter named WAG-H5-1. With a distinctive Raman laser implementation, two new systematic errors, ac Stark shift imbalance and Raman laser chirp, are found and evaluated. The robustness of the instrument was tested during 1200 km-long transportation for the 10th International Comparison of Absolute Gravimeters at Beijing in October 2017. We acquire the degree of equivalence of 3 Gal after the comparison. Its performance was further assessed by comparing with an absolute gravimeter (FG5X) in Wuhan. With high mobility and environmental adaptability, the gravimeter reaches a sensitivity of 30 Gal (Hz) −1/2 , stability of 1 Gal@ 4000 s and accuracy within 10 Gal.