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

Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Analytical tools for point source interferometry

Gregory W. Hoth, Bruno Pelle, John E. Kitching, Elizabeth A. Donley

Published Feb 20, 2017• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Light pulse atom interferometry can be used to realize high-performance sensors of accelerations and rotations. In order to broaden the range of applications of these sensors, it is desirable to reduce their size and complexity. Point source interferometry (PSI) is a promising technique for accomplishing both of these goals. With PSI, rotations are measured by detecting the orientation and frequency of spatial fringe patterns in the atomic state. These spatial fringes are primarily due to a correlation between an atom's initial velocity and its final position, which is created by the expansion of a cold atom cloud. However, the fringe patterns are also influenced by the structure of the initial atomic distribution. We summarize several methods that can be used to investigate the relationship between the spatial fringe pattern and the initial atomic distribution. This relationship will need to be understood in detail to realize an accurate gyroscope based on PSI.

DOI
10.1117/12.2247688

Related papers

Point source atom interferometry with a cloud of finite size

Gregory W. Hoth, Bruno Pelle, Stefan Riedl +2 more

We demonstrate a two axis gyroscope by the use of light pulse atom interferometry with an expanding cloud of atoms in the regime where the cloud has expanded by 1.1–5 times its initial size during the interrogation. Rotations are measured by analyzing spatial fringe patterns in the atom population obtained by imaging the final cloud. The fringes arise from a correlation between an atom's initial velocity and its final position. This correlation is naturally created by the expansion of the cloud, but it also depends on the initial atomic distribution. We show that the frequency and contrast of these spatial fringes depend on the details of the initial distribution and develop an analytical model to explain this dependence. We also discuss several challenges that must be overcome to realize a high-performance gyroscope with this technique.

Applied Physics Letters•Aug 15, 2016•41 citations

Robust inertial sensing with point-source atom interferometry for interferograms spanning a partial period

Yun-Jhih Chen, Azure Hansen, Moshe Shuker +3 more

Point source atom interferometry (PSI) uses the velocity distribution in a cold atom cloud to simultaneously measure one axis of acceleration and two axes of rotation from the spatial distribution of interferometer phase in an expanded cloud of atoms. Previously, the interferometer phase has been found from the phase, orientation, and period of the resulting spatial atomic interference fringe images. For practical applications in inertial sensing and precision measurement, it is important to be able to measure a wide range of system rotation rates, corresponding to interferograms with far less than one full interference fringe to very many fringes. Interferogram analysis techniques based on image processing used previously for PSI are challenging to implement for low rotation rates that generate less than one full interference fringe across the cloud. We introduce a new experimental method that is closely related to optical phase-shifting interferometry that is effective in extracting rotation values from signals consisting of fractional fringes as well as many fringes without prior knowledge of the rotation rate. The method finds the interferometer phase for each pixel in the image from four interferograms, each with a controlled Raman laser phase shift, to reconstruct the underlying atomic interferometer phase map without image processing.

arXiv:2005.11929•Optics Express•Oct 1, 2020•9 citations

Robust inertial sensing with point-source atom interferometry for interferograms spanning a partial period

Yun-Jhih Chen, Azure Hansen, M. Shuker +3 more

Point source atom interferometry (PSI) uses the velocity distribution in a cold atom cloud to simultaneously measure one axis of acceleration and two axes of rotation from the spatial distribution of interferometer phase in an expanded cloud of atoms. Previously, the interferometer phase has been found from the phase, orientation, and period of the resulting spatial atomic interference fringe images. For practical applications in inertial sensing and precision measurement, it is important to be able to measure a wide range of system rotation rates, corresponding to interferograms with far less than one full interference fringe to very many fringes. Interferogram analysis techniques based on image processing used previously for PSI are challenging to implement for low rotation rates that generate less than one full interference fringe across the cloud. We introduce a new experimental method that is closely related to optical phase-shifting interferometry that is effective in extracting rotation values from signals consisting of fractional fringes as well as many fringes without prior knowledge of the rotation rate. The method finds the interferometer phase for each pixel in the image from four interferograms, each with a controlled Raman laser phase shift, to reconstruct the underlying atomic interferometer phase map without image processing.

•Jan 1, 2020•6 citations

Inertial sensing with point-source atom interferometry for interferograms with less than one fringe

Yun-Jhih Chen, Azure Hansen, M. Shuker +3 more

Point source atom interferometry (PSI) is an atom-optical method that measures one axis of acceleration and two axes of rotation from atom-interferometric fringe images. The number of fringes in an image can be less than or larger than one, depending on the system rotation rate and the atom interferometer's sensitivity setting. Previously used methods for analyzing the fringes, such as parametric fittings, are not suitable for a wide range of rotation rates. We introduce a new experimental method that is effective in either case. Our approach does not require prior knowledge of fringe contrast, orientation, frequency, and phase.

Optical and Quantum Sensing and Precision Metrology•Mar 4, 2021•0 citations

Trade-offs in size and performance for a point source interferometer gyroscope

Gregory W. Hoth, Bruno Pelle, John E. Kitching +1 more

Point source interferometry (PSI) is a promising technique that could lead to a compact, high-performance gyroscope based on atom interferometry. We consider the trade-offs in size and performance with PSI. In particular, we discuss the sensitivity and dynamic range for a simple PSI gyroscope with an evacuated volume ranging from 1 mm3to 10 cm3. We also discuss the stability required for the initial atomic distribution in order to achieve part-per-million scale factor stability.

IEEE International Symposium on Inertial Sensors and Systems (INERTIAL)•Mar 1, 2017•3 citations

Enhanced Readout from Spatial Interference Fringes in a Point-Source Cold Atom Inertial Sensor

Jing Wang, Junze Tong, Wenbin Xie +3 more

When the initial size of an atom cloud in a cold atom interferometer is negligible compared to its size after free expansion, the interferometer is approximated to a point-source interferometer and is sensitive to rotational movements by introducing an additional phase shear in the interference sequence. This sensitivity on rotation enables a vertical atom-fountain interferometer to measure angular velocity in addition to gravitational acceleration, which it is conventionally used to measure. The accuracy and precision of the angular velocity measurement depends on proper extraction of frequency and phase from spatial interference patterns detected via the imaging of the atom cloud, which is usually affected by various systematic biases and noise. To improve the measurement, a pre-fitting process based on principal component analysis is applied to the recorded raw images. The contrast of interference patterns are enhanced by 7-12 dB when the processing is present, which leads to an enhancement in the precision of angular velocity measurements from 6.3 μrad/s to 3.3 μrad/s. This technique is applicable in various instruments that involve precise extraction of frequency and phase from a spatial interference pattern.

Sensors•May 25, 2023•3 citations
Light pulse atom interferometry can be used to realize high-performance sensors of accelerations and rotations. In order to broaden the range of applications of these sensors, it is desirable to reduce their size and complexity. Point source interferometry (PSI) is a promising technique for accomplishing both of these goals. With PSI, rotations are measured by detecting the orientation and frequency of spatial fringe patterns in the atomic state. These spatial fringes are primarily due to a correlation between an atom's initial velocity and its final position, which is created by the expansion of a cold atom cloud. However, the fringe patterns are also influenced by the structure of the initial atomic distribution. We summarize several methods that can be used to investigate the relationship between the spatial fringe pattern and the initial atomic distribution. This relationship will need to be understood in detail to realize an accurate gyroscope based on PSI.
We demonstrate a two axis gyroscope by the use of light pulse atom interferometry with an expanding cloud of atoms in the regime where the cloud has expanded by 1.1–5 times its initial size during the interrogation. Rotations are measured by analyzing spatial fringe patterns in the atom population obtained by imaging the final cloud. The fringes arise from a correlation between an atom's initial velocity and its final position. This correlation is naturally created by the expansion of the cloud, but it also depends on the initial atomic distribution. We show that the frequency and contrast of these spatial fringes depend on the details of the initial distribution and develop an analytical model to explain this dependence. We also discuss several challenges that must be overcome to realize a high-performance gyroscope with this technique.
Point source atom interferometry (PSI) uses the velocity distribution in a cold atom cloud to simultaneously measure one axis of acceleration and two axes of rotation from the spatial distribution of interferometer phase in an expanded cloud of atoms. Previously, the interferometer phase has been found from the phase, orientation, and period of the resulting spatial atomic interference fringe images. For practical applications in inertial sensing and precision measurement, it is important to be able to measure a wide range of system rotation rates, corresponding to interferograms with far less than one full interference fringe to very many fringes. Interferogram analysis techniques based on image processing used previously for PSI are challenging to implement for low rotation rates that generate less than one full interference fringe across the cloud. We introduce a new experimental method that is closely related to optical phase-shifting interferometry that is effective in extracting rotation values from signals consisting of fractional fringes as well as many fringes without prior knowledge of the rotation rate. The method finds the interferometer phase for each pixel in the image from four interferograms, each with a controlled Raman laser phase shift, to reconstruct the underlying atomic interferometer phase map without image processing.
Point source atom interferometry (PSI) uses the velocity distribution in a cold atom cloud to simultaneously measure one axis of acceleration and two axes of rotation from the spatial distribution of interferometer phase in an expanded cloud of atoms. Previously, the interferometer phase has been found from the phase, orientation, and period of the resulting spatial atomic interference fringe images. For practical applications in inertial sensing and precision measurement, it is important to be able to measure a wide range of system rotation rates, corresponding to interferograms with far less than one full interference fringe to very many fringes. Interferogram analysis techniques based on image processing used previously for PSI are challenging to implement for low rotation rates that generate less than one full interference fringe across the cloud. We introduce a new experimental method that is closely related to optical phase-shifting interferometry that is effective in extracting rotation values from signals consisting of fractional fringes as well as many fringes without prior knowledge of the rotation rate. The method finds the interferometer phase for each pixel in the image from four interferograms, each with a controlled Raman laser phase shift, to reconstruct the underlying atomic interferometer phase map without image processing.
Point source atom interferometry (PSI) is an atom-optical method that measures one axis of acceleration and two axes of rotation from atom-interferometric fringe images. The number of fringes in an image can be less than or larger than one, depending on the system rotation rate and the atom interferometer's sensitivity setting. Previously used methods for analyzing the fringes, such as parametric fittings, are not suitable for a wide range of rotation rates. We introduce a new experimental method that is effective in either case. Our approach does not require prior knowledge of fringe contrast, orientation, frequency, and phase.
When the initial size of an atom cloud in a cold atom interferometer is negligible compared to its size after free expansion, the interferometer is approximated to a point-source interferometer and is sensitive to rotational movements by introducing an additional phase shear in the interference sequence. This sensitivity on rotation enables a vertical atom-fountain interferometer to measure angular velocity in addition to gravitational acceleration, which it is conventionally used to measure. The accuracy and precision of the angular velocity measurement depends on proper extraction of frequency and phase from spatial interference patterns detected via the imaging of the atom cloud, which is usually affected by various systematic biases and noise. To improve the measurement, a pre-fitting process based on principal component analysis is applied to the recorded raw images. The contrast of interference patterns are enhanced by 7-12 dB when the processing is present, which leads to an enhancement in the precision of angular velocity measurements from 6.3 μrad/s to 3.3 μrad/s. This technique is applicable in various instruments that involve precise extraction of frequency and phase from a spatial interference pattern.