用陀螺仪测量地轴的进动和章动
近日，德国慕尼黑工业大学K. Ulrich Schreiber团队实现了用陀螺仪测量地轴的进动和章动。该研究于2025年9月5日发表在《科学进展》杂志上。
长期以来，高精度的Sagnac干涉测量法一直被认为是测试物理学中基本问题的一种方法，例如相对论进动的大小（例如，透镜-蒂林效应）。虽然已经进行了许多精细的实验，例如物质波干涉测量甚至量子纠缠，但没有一个实验的灵敏度和稳定性在实现这种测量所需的六个数量级以内。
研究组报道了一个自由空间环激光陀螺仪在稳定环境压力容器下在无扰动地下实验室连续运行250天的情况。由于这是相对于局部惯性空间进行测量的，所以地轴的进动和章动运动本质上包含在观测中。这表明，光学干涉测量，主题是一个超稳定腔，产生的旋转传感精度限制为十亿分之48（即每秒小辐射量），距离可以测量相对论效应的状态不到一个数量级。
附：英文原文
Title: Gyroscope measurements of the precession and nutation of Earth’s axis
Author: K. Ulrich Schreiber, Urs Hugentobler, Jan Kodet, Simon Stellmer, Thomas Klügel, Jon-Paul R. Wells
Issue&Volume: 2025-09-05
Abstract: 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.
DOI: adx6634