Schreiber K Ulrich, Hugentobler Urs, Kodet Jan, Stellmer Simon, Klügel Thomas, Wells Jon-Paul R
Research Unit Satellite Geodesy, Technical University of Munich, Munich 80333, Germany.
School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand.
Sci Adv. 2025 Sep 5;11(36):eadx6634. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adx6634. Epub 2025 Sep 3.
High-precision, Sagnac interferometry has long been proposed as a route to test fundamental questions in physics such as the magnitude of relativistic precessions (e.g., the Lense-Thirring effect). Although many elaborate experiments have been performed using, for example, matter wave interferometry or even quantum entanglement, none are within six orders of magnitude of the sensitivity and stability required to achieve such a measurement. We report on the operation of a free space ring laser gyroscope over a period of 250 days under an ambient pressure stabilizing vessel continuously in an unperturbed underground laboratory. Because we measure relative to local inertial space, the precession and nutation motion of Earth's axis are intrinsically contained in the observations. It is demonstrated that optical interferometry, using an ultrastable cavity, yields an accuracy limit for rotation sensing of 48 parts per billion (i.e., picoradians per second), less than an order of magnitude away from the regime in which relativistic effects can be measured.
长期以来，高精度萨格纳克干涉测量法一直被视为检验诸如相对论进动幅度（如伦施- Thirring效应）等物理学基本问题的途径。尽管已经进行了许多精心设计的实验，例如使用物质波干涉测量法甚至量子纠缠，但没有一个实验的灵敏度和稳定性能达到进行此类测量所需的六个数量级以内。我们报告了在一个未受干扰的地下实验室中，一个自由空间环形激光陀螺仪在环境压力稳定容器内连续运行250天的情况。由于我们相对于局部惯性空间进行测量，地球轴的进动和章动运动本质上包含在观测结果中。结果表明，使用超稳定腔的光学干涉测量法对旋转传感的精度极限为十亿分之四十八（即皮弧度每秒），距离可测量相对论效应的范围不到一个数量级。
