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arXiv:1808.10801 · Science Advances

Interleaved atom interferometry for high-sensitivity inertial measurements

Denis Savoie, Matteo Altorio, Bess Fang, Leonid A. Sidorenkov, Rémi Geiger, Arnaud Landragin

Published Dec 7, 2018• 230 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

, which competes with the best stability levels obtained with fiber-optic gyroscopes. Our work validates interleaving as a key concept for future atom-interferometry sensors probing time-varying signals, as in on-board navigation and gravity gradiometry, searches for dark matter, or gravitational wave detection.
DOI
10.1126/sciadv.aau7948

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Cold-atom inertial sensors target several applications in navigation,geoscience and tests of fundamental physics. Reaching high samplingrates and high inertial sensitivities, obtained with long interrogationtimes, represents a challenge for these applications. We report on theinterleaved operation of a cold-atom gyroscope, where 3 atomic cloudsare interrogated simultaneously in an atom interferometer featuring a3.75 Hz sampling rate and an interrogation time of 801 ms. Interleavingimproves the inertial sensitivity to 3×10-9 rad.s-1.Hz-1/2 byefficiently averaging vibration noise, and allows us to perform dynamicrotation measurements in a so-far unexplored range. We demonstrate astability of 3×10-10 rad.s-1 after 30 000 s, which competes with thebest stability levels obtained with fiber-optics gyroscopes. Our workvalidates interleaving as a key concept for future atom-interferometrysensors probing time-varying signals, as in on-board navigation andgravity-gradiometry, searches for dark matter, or gravitational wavedetection.
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Developments in atom interferometry have led to atomic inertial sensors with extremely high sensitivity. Their performances are for the moment limited by the ground vibrations, the impact of which is exacerbated by the sequential operation, resulting in aliasing and dead time. We discuss several experiments performed at LNE-SYRTE in order to reduce these problems and achieve the intrinsic limit of atomic inertial sensors. These techniques have resulted in transportable and high-performance instruments that participate in gravity measurements, and pave the way to applications in inertial navigation.