Measurement of the earth tides with a diamagnetic-levitated micro-oscillator at room temperature

Abstract

The precise measurement of the gravity of the earth plays a pivotal role in various fundamental research and application fields. Although a few gravimeters have been reported to achieve this goal, miniaturization of high-precision gravimetry remains a challenge. In this work, we have proposed and demonstrated a miniaturized gravimetry operating at room temperature based on a diamagnetic levitated micro-oscillator with a proof mass of only 215 mg. Compared with the latest reported miniaturized gravimeters based on Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems, the performance of our gravimetry has substantial improvements in that an acceleration sensitivity of 15 $\mu Gal/\sqrt{Hz}$ and a drift as low as 61 $\mu Gal$ per day have been reached. Based on this diamagnetic levitation gravimetry, we observed the earth tides, and the correlation coefficient between the experimental data and theoretical data reached 0.97. Some moderate foreseeable improvements can develop this diamagnetic levitation gravimetry into chip size device, making it suitable for mobile platforms such as drones. Our advancement in gravimetry is expected to facilitate a multitude of applications, including underground density surveying and the forecasting of natural hazards.