Optomechanical inertial sensors for gravimetry

Abstract:

Optomechanical resonators are a promising candidate for the development of novel gravimeters that are cost-effective, portable, and have competitive sensitivity compared to commercially available options. Monolithic fused silica resonators have low internal losses, leading to exquisite acceleration noise floors while being compact and lightweight. When coupled with high-precision optical readout, such as a laser interferometer or optomechanical laser, we anticipate that optomechanical sensors can achieve sensitivities below 1e-10 m/s/s/rtHz in the sub-Hz regime. In this talk, we present on the advantages of optomechanical gravimeters and the theoretical analysis that makes them an exciting option for gravimetry. We also present preliminary results from the development of such an optomechanical gravimeter and an inertially sensitive optomechanical laser.