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European Quantum Electronics Conference (EQEC)

Sagnac interferometry with cold atoms

C. Jentsch, S. Chelkowski, Ernst Maria Rasel, Wolfgang A. Ertmer

Published Jan 1, 2003• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Summary form only given. Matter wave interferometers have become very promising tools in fundamental physics and metrology. The sensitivities obtained with such atomic quantum sensors compete with classical state-of-the-art devices for acceleration and rotation measurements. Currently, we are setting up a new cold atom Sagnac interferometer (CASI) to realize high precision measurements of rotations with a compact and flexible setup. Using cold atoms the experiment aims to achieve sensitivities down to 2/spl times/10/sup -9/ rad/s/Hz for a compact interferometer as short as 15 cm. Rotations and accelerations will be discriminated by synchronous operation of two counterpropagating ensembles of ultra-cold atoms. We will give an overview about the concept and the parameters of our future interferometer. The results of the characterization of our 2D-MOT, which serves as a brilliant source for our cold atom interferometer, will be presented. The compact design of the sensor will be transportable. Thus, it will permit the comparison with other gyroscopes. CASI will be a first step towards a cold atom space experiment of the second generation.

DOI
10.1109/eqec.2003.1314156

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Summary form only given. Matter wave interferometers have become very promising tools in fundamental physics and metrology. The sensitivities obtained with such atomic quantum sensors compete with classical state-of-the-art devices for acceleration and rotation measurements. Currently, we are setting up a new cold atom Sagnac interferometer (CASI) to realize high precision measurements of rotations with a compact and flexible setup. Using cold atoms the experiment aims to achieve sensitivities down to 2/spl times/10/sup -9/ rad/s/Hz for a compact interferometer as short as 15 cm. Rotations and accelerations will be discriminated by synchronous operation of two counterpropagating ensembles of ultra-cold atoms. We will give an overview about the concept and the parameters of our future interferometer. The results of the characterization of our 2D-MOT, which serves as a brilliant source for our cold atom interferometer, will be presented. The compact design of the sensor will be transportable. Thus, it will permit the comparison with other gyroscopes. CASI will be a first step towards a cold atom space experiment of the second generation.
Since the first atom interferometry experiments in 1991, measurements of rotation through the Sagnac effect in open-area atom interferometers have been investigated. These studies have demonstrated very high sensitivity that can compete with state-of-the-art optical Sagnac interferometers. Since the early 2000s, these developments have been motivated by possible applications in inertial guidance and geophysics. Most matter-wave interferometers that have been investigated since then are based on two-photon Raman transitions for the manipulation of atomic wave packets. Results from the two most studied configurations, a space-domain interferometer with atomic beams and a time-domain interferometer with cold atoms, are presented and compared. Finally, the latest generation of cold atom interferometers and their preliminary results are presented.
In the paper the authors present an atomic gyroscope for the precise measurement of rotations based on optical Raman transitions for the coherent beam splitting process. Two interferometers with overlapping counter propagating atomic trajectories are used to distinguish between rotation and acceleration. Furthermore, we report on the present status of the apparatus including the analysis of systematic effects, which lead to the current limitation of the sensor. Finally, future improvements based on the provided analysis of the sensor will be discussed.
This thesis presents the experimental scheme for a guided cold atom Sagnac interferometer. Although atom interferometers have become an established method for precision measurements, a feasible clock-scheme based on fully guided atoms has yet to be realised. Radio frequency potentials, generated by a chip, provide a means to create a compact, fully controllable guided atom interferometer. The experimental infrastructure for a rubidium cold atom system is built and characterised. A chip-based atomic clock scheme is presented, utilising state-dependent guiding around a ring shaped trap. The chip design to form the trap and operate the interferometer is presented, and a vacuum compatible PCB has been designed and commercially manufactured to provide atomic transport and compression towards an atom chip. This project is part of the larger MatterWave project. In collaboration with Birmingham and Crete, the Matterwave project aims to develop ultra-sensitive matter-wave interferometry for compact devices.
We present the full evaluation of a cold-atom gyroscope based on atom interferometry. We have performed extensive studies to determine the systematic errors, scale factor and sensitivity. We demonstrate that the acceleration noise can be efficiently removed from the rotation signal, allowing us to reach the fundamental limit of the quantum projection noise for short term measurements. The technical limits to the long term sensitivity and accuracy have been identified, clearing the way for the next generation of ultrasensitive atom gyroscopes.
A rotation-rate sensor was developed using atom interferometry and the Sagnac effect for matter waves. This device has a short-term sensitivity of 6× 10−10 rad/sec for a 1 second integration time, which is the best publicly reported value to date. It has high intrinsic accuracy because it relies on interactions between atoms and laser light that is stabilized to an atomic transition. Long-term stability is promising and characterization is currently underway. Potential applications include inertial navigation, geophysical studies, and general relativity tests such as verification of the Lense-Thirring and geodetic effects. The principle of operation is as follows: A thermal cesium atomic beam crosses three laser interaction regions where two-photon stimulated Raman transitions between cesium ground states transfer momentum to atoms and divide, deflect, and recombine the atomic wavepackets. Rotation induces a phase shift between the two possible trajectories and causes a change in the detected number of atoms with a particular internal state. Counterpropagating atomic beams form two interferometers using shared lasers for common-mode rejection, and the rotation phase shifts have opposite sign since the phase shift is proportional to the vector velocity of the atoms. Therefore, subtracting or adding the interferometer signals discriminates between rotation and transverse acceleration summed with laser arbitrary phase. Furthermore, in the inertial reference frame of the atoms, rotations Doppler-shift the Raman lasers. Adding Raman frequency shifts to cancel these Doppler-shifts allows operation at an effective zero rotation rate, improving sensitivity and bandwidth. Modulating these frequency shifts facilitates sensitive lock-in detection readout techniques.