Status of the GINGER project

Large frame Ring laser gyroscopes, based on the Sagnac effect, are top sensitivity instrumentation to measure angular velocity with respect to the fixed stars. GINGER (Gyroscopes IN GEneral Relativity) project foresees the construction of an array of three large dimension ring laser gyroscopes, rigidly connected to the Earth. GINGER has the potentiality to measure general relativity effects and Lorentz Violation in the gravity sector, once a sensitivity of $10^{-9}$, or better, of the Earth rotation rate is obtained. Being attached to the Earth crust, the array will also provide useful data for geophysical investigation. For this purpose, it is at present under construction as part of the multi-components observatory called Underground Geophysics at Gran Sasso (UGSS). Sensitivity is the key point to determine the relevance of this instrument for fundamental science. The most recent progress in the sensitivity measurement, obtained on a ring laser prototype called GINGERINO, indicates that GINGER should reach the level of 1 part in $10^{11}$ of the Earth rotation rate.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Sagnac Gyroscopes and the GINGER Project

Large-frame optical Sagnac gyroscopes, more commonly called ring laser gyroscopes, are considered the only device able to provide fast and very high sensitivity measurement of the length of the day (LOD) and of the Earth rotation axis variations. Several large-frame Sagnac gyros are presently operative with a high duty cycle and a sensitivity well below fractions of nrad/s in 1 s measurement. At present, other inertial angular rotation sensors are not competitive with ring laser gyroscopes. The feasibility depends on the so-called hetero-lithic ring lasers. The present state of the art is reported and the feasibility of the main goals for geodesy discussed

Analysis of ring laser gyroscopes including laser dynamics

Inertial sensors stimulate very large interest, not only for their application but also for fundamental physics tests. Ring laser gyros, which measure angular rotation rate, are certainly among the most sensitive inertial sensors, with excellent dynamic range and bandwidth. Large area ring laser gyros are routinely able to measure fractions of prad/s, with high duty cycle and bandwidth, providing fast, direct and local measurement of relevant geodetic and geophysical signals. Improvements of a factor $10-100$ would open the windows for general relativity tests, as the GINGER project, an Earth based experiment aiming at the Lense-Thirring test at $1\%$ level. However, it is well known that the dynamics of the laser induces non-linearities, and those effects are more evident in small scale instruments. Sensitivity and accuracy improvements are always worthwhile, and in general there is demand for high sensitivity environmental study and development of inertial platforms, where small scale transportable instruments should be used. We discuss a novel technique to analyse the data, aiming at studying and removing those non-linearity. The analysis is applied to the two ring laser prototypes GP2 and GINGERINO, and angular rotation rate evaluated with the new and standard methods are compared. The improvement is evident, it shows that the back-scatter problem of the ring laser gyros is negligible with a proper analysis of the data, improving the performances of large scale ring laser gyros, but also indicating that small scale instruments with sensitivity of nrad/s are feasible.Comment: 9 pages and 7 figure

Observational and Experimental Gravity

We indicate the progress of experimental gravity, present an outlook in this field, and summarise the Observational/Experimental Parallel Session together with a related plenary talk on gravitational waves of the 2nd LeCosPA Symposium.Comment: 1 figure, Second LeCosPa Simposium, December 2015, Taipei Taiwa

Comparative analysis of local angular rotation between the Ring Laser Gyroscope GINGERINO and GNSS stations

The study of local deformations is a hot topic in geodesy. Local rotations of the crust around the vertical axis can be caused by deformations. In the Gran Sasso area the ring laser prototype GINGERINO and the GNSS array are operative. One year of data of GINGERINO is compared with the ones from the GNSS stations, homogeneously selected around the position of GINGERINO, aiming at looking for rotational signals with period of days common to both systems. At that purpose the rotational component of the area circumscribed by the GNSS stations has been evaluated and compared with the GINGERINO data. The coherences between the signals show structures that even exceed 60$\%$ coherence over the 6-60 days period; to validate this unprecedented analysis two different methods have been used to evaluate the local rotation using the GNSS stations. The analysis reveals that the shared rotational signal's amplitude in both instruments is approximately $10^{-13} rad/s$, an order of magnitude lower than the amplitudes of the signals examined using the coherence method. The ring laser array GINGER is at present under construction, and the confrontation of the ring laser data with GNSS antennas provides evidence of the fruibility and validity of the ring laser data for very low frequency investigation

GINGER: A feasibility study

GINGER (Gyroscopes IN General Relativity) is a proposal for an Earth-based experiment to measure the Lense-Thirring (LT) and de Sitter effects. GINGER is based on ring lasers, which are the most sensitive inertial sensors to measure the rotation rate of the Earth. We show that two ring lasers, one at maximum signal and the other horizontal, would be the simplest configuration able to retrieve the GR effects. Here, we discuss this configuration in detail showing that it would have the capability to test LT effect at 1%, provided the accuracy of the scale factor of the instrument at the level of 1 part in 1012 is reached. In principle, one single ring laser could do the test, but the combination of the two ring lasers gives the necessary redundancy and the possibility to verify that the systematics of the lasers are sufficiently small. The discussion can be generalised to seismology and geodesy and it is possible to say that signals 10-12 orders of magnitude below the Earth rotation rate can be studied; the proposed array can be seen as the basic element of multi-axial systems, and the generalisation to three dimensions is feasible adding one or two devices and monitoring the relative angles between different ring lasers. This simple array can be used to measure with very high precision the amplitude of angular rotation rate (the length of the day, LOD), its short term variations, and the angle between the angular rotation vector and the horizontal ring laser. Finally this experiment could be useful to probe gravity at fundamental level giving indications on violations of Einstein Equivalence Principle and Lorenz Invariance and possible chiral effects in the gravitational field

Horizontal rotation signals detected by "G-Pisa" ring laser for the Mw=9.0, March 2011, Japan earthquake

We report the observation of the ground rotation induced by the Mw=9.0, 11th of March 2011, Japan earthquake. The rotation measurements have been conducted with a ring laser gyroscope operating in a vertical plane, thus detecting rotations around the horizontal axis. Comparison of ground rotations with vertical accelerations from a co-located force-balance accelerometer shows excellent ring laser coupling at periods longer than 100s. Under the plane wave assumption, we derive a theoretical relationship between horizontal rotation and vertical acceleration for Rayleigh waves. Due to the oblique mounting of the gyroscope with respect to the wave direction-of-arrival, apparent velocities derived from the acceleration / rotation rate ratio are expected to be always larger than, or equal to the true wave propagation velocity. This hypothesis is confirmed through comparison with fundamental-mode, Rayleigh wave phase velocities predicted for a standard Earth model.Comment: Accepted for publication in Journal of Seismolog

An underground Sagnac gyroscope with sub-prad/s rotation rate sensitivity: toward General Relativity tests on Earth

Measuring in a single location on Earth its angular rotation rate with respect to the celestial frame, with a sensitivity enabling access to the tiny Lense-Thirring effect is an extremely challenging task. GINGERINO is a large frame ring laser gyroscope, operating free running and unattended inside the underground laboratory of the Gran Sasso, Italy. The main geodetic signals, i.e., Annual and Chandler wobbles, daily polar motion and Length of the Day, are recovered from GINGERINO data using standard linear regression methods, demonstrating a sensitivity better than 1 prad/s, therefore close to the requirements for an Earth-based Lense-Thirring test.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure