Low-Frequency Vibration Isolation for Atom Interferometry

The isolation of low-frequency vibrational noise must be applied in most gravimeters to allow for accurate measurement of Earth’s local gravitational acceleration. Optimal performance of a gravimeter can be achieved by mitigating the effects of vibration on inertial acceleration measurement. A seismometer is used to detect vibrational noise and produce a voltage signal from which the magnitude and frequency of vibrations can be calculated. A system was constructed to record vibrational noise and compute its Fourier Transform. The output is low-pass filtered and can be fed back to a voice coil to correct residual noise detected on a vibration isolation platform. The next steps include determining the appropriate cut-off frequency range and benchmarking the performance in various environments.