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IEEE International Symposium on Inertial Sensors and Systems (INERTIAL)

A Multi-Axis Atom Interferometer Gyroscope Based on a Grating Chip

Xiaojie Li, Zhixin Meng, Peiqiang Yan, Jianwei Zhang, Yanying Feng

Published Mar 1, 2020• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We propose a new design of a multi-axis atom interferometer (AI) gyroscope based on a grating chip, which allows a single input laser beam for atomic trapping and coherent manipulation. Multiple AIs are formed by the input laser beam along with the other four diffractive beams generated by the grating chip. The rotation induced phase shifts from different input axes lead to different spatial interference fringes due to the modulation of the atomic velocity. With the point source interferometry (PSI) and the spatially resolved detection, multi-axis rotations may be measured by imaging the final atomic cloud after the interferometer sequence and decoding the information of spatial fringes from different input axes. Monte-Carlo based simulation are used for evaluating the proposed scheme and its application as a multi-axis gyroscope.

DOI
10.1109/inertial48129.2020.9090092

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We propose a new design of a multi-axis atom interferometer (AI) gyroscope based on a grating chip, which allows a single input laser beam for atomic trapping and coherent manipulation. Multiple AIs are formed by the input laser beam along with the other four diffractive beams generated by the grating chip. The rotation induced phase shifts from different input axes lead to different spatial interference fringes due to the modulation of the atomic velocity. With the point source interferometry (PSI) and the spatially resolved detection, multi-axis rotations may be measured by imaging the final atomic cloud after the interferometer sequence and decoding the information of spatial fringes from different input axes. Monte-Carlo based simulation are used for evaluating the proposed scheme and its application as a multi-axis gyroscope.
Using the technique of point source atom interferometry, we characterize the sensitivity of a multi-axis gyroscope based on free-space Raman interrogation of a single source of cold atoms in a glass vacuum cell. The instrument simultaneously measures the acceleration in the direction of the Raman laser beams and the component of the rotation vector in the plane perpendicular to that direction. We characterize the sensitivities for the magnitude and direction of the rotation vector measurement, which are 0.033 ∘/s^{\circ}/\mathrm{s}∘/s and 0.27 ∘^{\circ}∘ with one second averaging time, respectively. The sensitivity could be improved by increasing the Raman interrogation time, allowing the cold-atom cloud to expand further, correcting the fluctuations in the initial cloud shape, and reducing sources of technical noise. The unique ability of the PSI technique to measure the rotation vector in a plane may permit applications of atom interferometry such as tracking the precession of a rotation vector and gyrocompassing.
A point source atom interferometer (PSI) is a device where atoms are split and recombined by applying a temporal sequence of Raman pulses during the expansion of a cloud of cold atoms behaving approximately as a point source. Unlike a conventional light pulse atom interferometer, the PSI can produce a signal that corresponds to multi-axis rotation only, independent of acceleration. In addition, it can be used to measure acceleration along one direction, independent of rotation. Here, we describe a modified PSI that can be used to measure multi-axis rotation and multi-axis acceleration. Specifically, this type of PSI can be used to measure two-axes rotation around the directions perpendicular to the light pulses, as well as the acceleration in all three directions, with only one pair of Raman beams. Using two pairs of Raman beams in orthogonal directions sequentially, such a scheme would enable the realization of a complete atom interferometric inertial measurement unit.
We demonstrate a scheme for atom interferometry to measure multiple axes of accelerations and rotations based on a single-diode laser and a pyramidal magneto-optical trap. The atom interferometer is constructed based on a simple and robust design. Additionally, with zeroed AC Stark shift, efficient Raman transition has been achieved by use of modest laser intensity and a small single photon detuning. By irradiating Raman beams toward not only the whole pyramid but also individual pyramidal faces, multiaxis atom interferometers have been operated. As a demonstration, the vertical interferometer measures the gravity with a sensitivity of 6 μm/s2 /√Hz and one interferometer along the diagonal axis observes the long-term tilt drift of the platform with a sensitivity of 4 μrad/√Hz. As a gyroscope, the atom interferometer along the diagonal axis achieves a sensitivity of 300 μrad/s/√Hz. This work paves the way toward compact, precise and multiaxis atom interferometers for geodesy, geology, or inertial navigation.
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.
Inertial sensors based on cold atom interferometry exhibit many interesting features for applications related to inertial navigation, particularly in terms of sensitivity and long-term stability. However, at present the typical atom interferometer is still very much an experiment—consisting of a bulky, static apparatus with a limited dynamic range and high sensitivity to environmental effects. To be compliant with mobile applications further development is needed. In this work, we present a compact and mobile experiment, which we recently used to achieve the first inertial measurements with an atomic accelerometer onboard an aircraft. By integrating classical inertial sensors into our apparatus, we are able to operate the atomic sensor well beyond its standard operating range, corresponding to half of an interference fringe. We report atom-based acceleration measurements along both the horizontal and vertical axes of the aircraft with one-shot sensitivities of 2.3 × 10−4 g over a range of ∼ 0.1 g. The same technology can be used to develop cold-atom gyroscopes, which could surpass the best optical gyroscopes in terms of long-term sensitivity. Our apparatus was also designed to study multi-axis atom interferometry with the goal of realizing a full inertial measurement unit comprised of the three axes of acceleration and rotation. Finally, we present a compact and tunable laser system, which constitutes an essential part of any cold-atom-based sensor. The architecture of the laser is based on phase modulating a single fiber-optic laser diode, and can be tuned over a range of 1 GHz in less than 200 μs.
Matter-wave interferometry with cold atoms offers a competitive tool for absolute measurements of acceleration and rotation. The sensitivity of atom-interferometric gyroscopes depends on the area enclosed by the interferometer. In this contribution, we present a concept for a rotation sensor, utilizing a multi-loop interferometer geometry to achieve a scalable area while maintaining a compact setup. It enables rotation measurements of a single axis on ground and can be extended to measure rotations along all three spatial axes in microgravity, for potential applications in space missions, Earth observation, and navigation systems.