Time base evaluation for atom gravimeters

Time is an inevitable quantity involved in absolute gravity measurements, and 10 MHz frequency standards are usually utilized as time base. Here we investigate the influence of time base bias on atom-interferometry-based gravity measurements and present an onsite calibration of the time base bias relying on an atom gravimeter itself. With a microwave source referenced to the time base, the time base bias leads to a magnified frequency shift of the microwave source output. The shift is then detected by Ramsey spectroscopy with the clock transition of ⁸⁷Rb atoms as a frequency discriminator. Taking advantage of available free-fall cold atoms and developed techniques of measuring the atom energy level shift in atom gravimeters, the calibration achieves an accuracy of 0.6 mHz for the time base. And the corresponding error for gravity measurements is constrained to 0.1 μGal, meeting the requirement of state-of-the-art gravimeters. The presented evaluation is important for the applications of atom gravimeters.