Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2504.07236 · Physical Review Applied

Noise resilience in a high-bandwidth atom interferometer

Jonathan M. Kwolek, Sunil Kumar Upadhyay, Adam T. Black

Published Aug 14, 2025• 3 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The utility of inertial sensors depends on resilience against real-world dynamics and noise. Atom interferometry offers a sensing technology with the advantage of good long-term stability, high sensitivity, and accuracy. High measurement bandwidth improves an atom interferometer's ability to reject errors due to dynamics and noise. Here we demonstrate resilience against time-varying environmental noise by rapidly switching the direction of inertial sensitivity in the atom interferometer through a common technique known as k-reversal. We demonstrate sub-interrogation-time k-reversal at 592 Hz in a cold-beam atomic interferometer with an inverse interrogation time of 148 Hz. The interferometer fringe output is read out continuously and post-processed using nonlinear Kalman filters to determine both the inertial and error contributions to the output phase. The resulting power spectral densities show a significant reduction of phase error due to a noisy magnetic field as the k-reversal frequency increases.

DOI
10.1103/m7tr-tm4w

Related papers

Time-domain control of a spatial-domain atomic beam interferometer

Adam T. Black, Hans J. Haucke, Sunil Kumar Upadhyay +2 more

Atom interferometers that operate in the spatial domain through continuous measurement of an atomic beam provide benefits in the elimination of sensor dead time and reduced sensitivity to certain noise sources. Further improving its operation, time-domain control of a spatial-domain interferometer can provide necessary methods of error suppression and dynamic range improvement. We model numerically and experimentally demonstrate methods of time-domain control in a 3D-cooled atomic beam interferometer. We demonstrate suppression of magnetic-field-induced phase noise through rapid reversal of the direction of inertial sensitivity at a rate faster than the inverse interrogation time of the interferometer.

Optical and Quantum Sensing and Precision Metrology II•Mar 13, 2024•2 citations

High-bandwidth, sub-Doppler atomic beam interferometry

Adam T. Black, Jonathan M. Kwolek

Through the use of a high-flux rubidium beam source with sub-Doppler temperatures in three dimensions, we have demonstrated an inertially sensitive atom interferometer featuring high contrast, low noise, and continuous measurement with high bandwidth. We describe the cold-atom source and the optical design that optimizes interferometer contrast. Finally, we demonstrate useful features enabled by this architecture, such as continuous phase shear readout and rapid reversal of inertial sensitivity. This demonstration may enable future cold-atom sensors that measure with both high sensitivity and high bandwidth.

Optical and Quantum Sensing and Precision Metrology II•Mar 3, 2022•0 citations

Inertial noise post-correction in atom interferometers measuring the local gravitational acceleration

L. Richardson

Exploiting the quantum nature of atoms through the use of matter-wave interferometry has lead to the development of devices sensitive to, among other things, the local gravitational acceleration. Measurements of the gravitational acceleration have applications ranging from detection of subterranean density di erences to observation of general relativistic e ects. Light-pulse atom interferometers provide an absolute measurement of the gravitational acceleration with a sensitivity competitive and even surpassing the performance of classical sensors. The advantages of atom interferometers as inertial measurement devices have lead to e orts in increasing sensitivity and decreasing the physical dimensions of the measurement head, allowing them to be more transportable for eld use applications. With increasing sensitivity, it becomes more critical to address the noise source limitations a ecting the measurement, speci cally the in uence of ground motion on measurements. Vibrations coupling into the inertial reference add a time varying phase shift uncommon to the paths of the interferometer. This limitation is especially pertinent to transportable atom gravimeters measuring in the eld where inertial noise is typically far higher than in relatively quiet laboratory environments. Within this work, implementation and demonstration of inertial noise post-correction in an atom interferometer is shown within low inertial noise environments and simulated strong motion environments. For a high pulse separation time atom interferometer (T = 78 ms) post-correction yielded an increase in the short term stability from 4.4 x 10 ̄6 m/s2/√Hz to 9.2 x 10 ̄7 m/s2/√Hz. This method was reproduced with a di erent motion sensor to perform post-correction in a high motion environment, generated by introducing additional movement onto the inertial reference. By performing post-correction in the high motion environment, we were able to show an increase of short term stability of γ = 73.8. Current limitations to the post-correction resulted from self noise resolution limitations and spectral resolutions limitations. Beyond corrections with commercially available sensors, this work demonstrates the rst post-correction with a next generation compact optomechanical sensor. This optomechanical sensor is formed from monolithic fused silica capable of sensitively measuring accelerations of a harmonic oscillator test mass, which can be read-out optically. This novel motion sensor has the advantage to any previously shown sensor used for post-correction in the capacity that it is vacuum compatible, insensitive to magnetic elds and has the potential to be implemented directly into the inertial reference. In this work, inertial noise post-correction in a simulated high motion environment is shown, correcting from a short term stability of 8 x 10 ̄3 m/s2/√Hz to 5 x 10 ̄4 m/s2/√Hz. Post-correction was limited by the parasitic cavities within the ber required for optical read-out of the harmonic oscillator displacement and intensity noise uctuations of the source laser. The results shown within this work are congruent with previous works on atom chip gravimeters, both of which help move towards portable hand-held gravimeter measurement heads capable of sensitive inertial measurement.

•Jan 1, 2019•9 citations

Interleaved Atom Interferometry for High Sensitivity Inertial Measurements

Denis Savoie, Matteo Altorio, Bess Fang +3 more

We report on interleaved operation of a cold-atom inertial sensor, where three atomic clouds are simultaneously probed in an atom interferometer featuring 4 Hz sampling rate and interrogation time of 801 ms. Interleaving improves the inertial sensitivity by efficiently averaging vibration noise and allows us to perform dynamic rotation measurements in a so far unexplored range. We demonstrate sensitivity of 30 nrad.s-1·Hz-1/2and reach the long-term stability of 3·10-10rads-1, which competes with the best stability levels obtained with fiber-optic gyroscopes. Our work validated 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.

Joint Conference of the European Frequency and Time Forum and IEEE International Frequency Control Symposium (EFTF/IFCS)•Apr 1, 2019•12 citations

Interleaved atom interferometry for high sensitivity inertial measurements

Matteo Altorio, Romain Gautier, Denis Savoie +3 more

Cold-atom inertial sensors target several applications in navigation, geoscience and tests of fundamental physics. Reaching high sampling rates and high inertial sensitivities, obtained with long interrogation times, represents a challenge for these applications. We report on the interleaved operation of a cold-atom gyroscope, where 3 atomic clouds are interrogated simultaneously in an atom interferometer featuring a 3.75 Hz sampling rate and an interrogation time of 801 ms. Interleaving improves the inertial sensitivity by efficiently averaging vibration noise, and allows us to perform dynamic rotation measurements in a so-far unexplored range. We demonstrate a stability of $3\times 10^{-10}$ rad.s$^{-1}$, which competes with the best stability levels obtained with fiber-optics 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.

•Apr 8, 2019•72 citations

Cold-atom inertial sensor without deadtime

Bess Fang, Denis Savoie, N. Mielec +5 more

We report the operation of a cold-atom inertial sensor in a joint interrogation scheme, where we simultaneously prepare a cold-atom source and operate an atom interferometer in order to eliminate dead times [1]. This is illustrated in Fig. 1. Dead times and noise aliasing are consequences of the sequential operation which is intrinsic to cold-atom interferometers. Both phenomena have deleterious effects on the performance of these sensors. We show that our continuous operation improves the short-term sensitivity of atom interferometers, by demonstrating a record rotation sensitivity of 100 nrad.s-1/√Hz in a cold-atom gyroscope of 11 cm2Sagnac area. We also demonstrate a rotation stability of 1 nrad.s-1after 104s of integration, improving previous results by an order of magnitude [2-4]. We expect that the continuous operation will allow cold-atom inertial sensors with long interrogation time to reach their full sensitivity, determined by the quantum noise limit.

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)•Jun 1, 2017•0 citations
The utility of inertial sensors depends on resilience against real-world dynamics and noise. Atom interferometry offers a sensing technology with the advantage of good long-term stability, high sensitivity, and accuracy. High measurement bandwidth improves an atom interferometer's ability to reject errors due to dynamics and noise. Here we demonstrate resilience against time-varying environmental noise by rapidly switching the direction of inertial sensitivity in the atom interferometer through a common technique known as k-reversal. We demonstrate sub-interrogation-time k-reversal at 592 Hz in a cold-beam atomic interferometer with an inverse interrogation time of 148 Hz. The interferometer fringe output is read out continuously and post-processed using nonlinear Kalman filters to determine both the inertial and error contributions to the output phase. The resulting power spectral densities show a significant reduction of phase error due to a noisy magnetic field as the k-reversal frequency increases.
Atom interferometers that operate in the spatial domain through continuous measurement of an atomic beam provide benefits in the elimination of sensor dead time and reduced sensitivity to certain noise sources. Further improving its operation, time-domain control of a spatial-domain interferometer can provide necessary methods of error suppression and dynamic range improvement. We model numerically and experimentally demonstrate methods of time-domain control in a 3D-cooled atomic beam interferometer. We demonstrate suppression of magnetic-field-induced phase noise through rapid reversal of the direction of inertial sensitivity at a rate faster than the inverse interrogation time of the interferometer.
Through the use of a high-flux rubidium beam source with sub-Doppler temperatures in three dimensions, we have demonstrated an inertially sensitive atom interferometer featuring high contrast, low noise, and continuous measurement with high bandwidth. We describe the cold-atom source and the optical design that optimizes interferometer contrast. Finally, we demonstrate useful features enabled by this architecture, such as continuous phase shear readout and rapid reversal of inertial sensitivity. This demonstration may enable future cold-atom sensors that measure with both high sensitivity and high bandwidth.
Exploiting the quantum nature of atoms through the use of matter-wave interferometry has lead to the development of devices sensitive to, among other things, the local gravitational acceleration. Measurements of the gravitational acceleration have applications ranging from detection of subterranean density di erences to observation of general relativistic e ects. Light-pulse atom interferometers provide an absolute measurement of the gravitational acceleration with a sensitivity competitive and even surpassing the performance of classical sensors. The advantages of atom interferometers as inertial measurement devices have lead to e orts in increasing sensitivity and decreasing the physical dimensions of the measurement head, allowing them to be more transportable for eld use applications. With increasing sensitivity, it becomes more critical to address the noise source limitations a ecting the measurement, speci cally the in uence of ground motion on measurements. Vibrations coupling into the inertial reference add a time varying phase shift uncommon to the paths of the interferometer. This limitation is especially pertinent to transportable atom gravimeters measuring in the eld where inertial noise is typically far higher than in relatively quiet laboratory environments. Within this work, implementation and demonstration of inertial noise post-correction in an atom interferometer is shown within low inertial noise environments and simulated strong motion environments. For a high pulse separation time atom interferometer (T = 78 ms) post-correction yielded an increase in the short term stability from 4.4 x 10 ̄6 m/s2/√Hz to 9.2 x 10 ̄7 m/s2/√Hz. This method was reproduced with a di erent motion sensor to perform post-correction in a high motion environment, generated by introducing additional movement onto the inertial reference. By performing post-correction in the high motion environment, we were able to show an increase of short term stability of γ = 73.8. Current limitations to the post-correction resulted from self noise resolution limitations and spectral resolutions limitations. Beyond corrections with commercially available sensors, this work demonstrates the rst post-correction with a next generation compact optomechanical sensor. This optomechanical sensor is formed from monolithic fused silica capable of sensitively measuring accelerations of a harmonic oscillator test mass, which can be read-out optically. This novel motion sensor has the advantage to any previously shown sensor used for post-correction in the capacity that it is vacuum compatible, insensitive to magnetic elds and has the potential to be implemented directly into the inertial reference. In this work, inertial noise post-correction in a simulated high motion environment is shown, correcting from a short term stability of 8 x 10 ̄3 m/s2/√Hz to 5 x 10 ̄4 m/s2/√Hz. Post-correction was limited by the parasitic cavities within the ber required for optical read-out of the harmonic oscillator displacement and intensity noise uctuations of the source laser. The results shown within this work are congruent with previous works on atom chip gravimeters, both of which help move towards portable hand-held gravimeter measurement heads capable of sensitive inertial measurement.
We report on interleaved operation of a cold-atom inertial sensor, where three atomic clouds are simultaneously probed in an atom interferometer featuring 4 Hz sampling rate and interrogation time of 801 ms. Interleaving improves the inertial sensitivity by efficiently averaging vibration noise and allows us to perform dynamic rotation measurements in a so far unexplored range. We demonstrate sensitivity of 30 nrad.s-1·Hz-1/2and reach the long-term stability of 3·10-10rads-1, which competes with the best stability levels obtained with fiber-optic gyroscopes. Our work validated 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.
Cold-atom inertial sensors target several applications in navigation, geoscience and tests of fundamental physics. Reaching high sampling rates and high inertial sensitivities, obtained with long interrogation times, represents a challenge for these applications. We report on the interleaved operation of a cold-atom gyroscope, where 3 atomic clouds are interrogated simultaneously in an atom interferometer featuring a 3.75 Hz sampling rate and an interrogation time of 801 ms. Interleaving improves the inertial sensitivity by efficiently averaging vibration noise, and allows us to perform dynamic rotation measurements in a so-far unexplored range. We demonstrate a stability of 3×10−103\times 10^{-10}3×10−10 rad.s−1^{-1}−1, which competes with the best stability levels obtained with fiber-optics 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.
We report the operation of a cold-atom inertial sensor in a joint interrogation scheme, where we simultaneously prepare a cold-atom source and operate an atom interferometer in order to eliminate dead times [1]. This is illustrated in Fig. 1. Dead times and noise aliasing are consequences of the sequential operation which is intrinsic to cold-atom interferometers. Both phenomena have deleterious effects on the performance of these sensors. We show that our continuous operation improves the short-term sensitivity of atom interferometers, by demonstrating a record rotation sensitivity of 100 nrad.s-1/√Hz in a cold-atom gyroscope of 11 cm2Sagnac area. We also demonstrate a rotation stability of 1 nrad.s-1after 104s of integration, improving previous results by an order of magnitude [2-4]. We expect that the continuous operation will allow cold-atom inertial sensors with long interrogation time to reach their full sensitivity, determined by the quantum noise limit.