  In this paper, we investigate the optimal decay rate for the higher order
spatial derivative of global solution to the compressible Navier-Stokes (CNS)
equations with or without potential force in three-dimensional whole space.
First of all, it has been shown in \cite{guo2012} that the $N$-th order spatial
derivative of global small solution of the CNS equations without potential
force tends to zero with the $L^2-$rate $(1+t)^{-(s+N-1)}$ when the initial
perturbation around the constant equilibrium state belongs to
$H^N(\mathbb{R}^3)\cap \dot H^{-s}(\mathbb{R}^3)(N \ge 3 \text{~and~} s\in [0,
\frac32))$. Thus, our first result improves this decay rate to
$(1+t)^{-(s+N)}$. Secondly, we establish the optimal decay rate for the global
small solution of the CNS equations with potential force as time tends to
infinity. These decay rates for the solution itself and its spatial derivatives
are really optimal since the upper bounds of decay rates coincide with the
lower ones.
