Source mass and positioning system for an accurate measurement of G.
We report on a system of well-characterized source masses and their precision positioning system for a measurement of the Newtonian gravitational constant G using atoms as probes. The masses are 24 cylinders of 50 mm nominal radius, 150.2 mm nominal height, and mass of about 21.5 kg, sintered starting from a mixture of 95.3% W, 3.2% Ni, and 1.5% Cu. Density homogeneity and cylindrical geometry have been carefully investigated. The positioning system independently moves two groups of 12 cylinders along the vertical direction by tens of centimeters with a reproducibility of a few microns. The whole system is compatible with a resolution DeltaG/G<10(-4).
LENS, Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Firenze and INFN-Sezione di Firenze, Via Sansone 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze , Italy.
G
G
Lamporesi
A
A
Bertoldi
A
A
Cecchetti
B
B
Duhlach
M
M
Fattori
A
A
Malengo
S
S
Pettorruso
M
M
Prevedelli
G M
GM
Tino
D002138:Calibration / Q000592:standards*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D006112:Gravitation; D038622:Internationality; D008846:Micromanipulation / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity