Physical principles of quantum gyroscopy

E. S. Shcherbina

Sulakshana Thanvanthri, Kishore T. Kapale, Jonathan P. Dowling

Matter–wave interferometers are, in principle, orders of magnitude more sensitive than their optical counterparts. Nevertheless, creation of matter–wave currents to achieve such a sensitivity is a continuing challenge. Here, we propose the use of Optical-Angular-Momentum (OAM) induced vortex superpositions in Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) as an alternative to other atom interferometers for gyroscopy. The coherent superposition of two counter-rotating vortex states of a trapped condensate leads to an interference pattern that rotates by an angle proportional to the angular velocity of the rotating trap – in accordance with the Sagnac effect. We show that the rotation rate can be easily read out, and that the device is highly stable. The signal-to-noise ratio and sensitivity of the scheme are also estimated.

N.M. Pomerantsev, G. V. Skrotskiǐ

Rui Cheng, Jingbo Yao, Yuan Ren

With high precision and sensitivity, quantum gyroscope has become a research hotspot of inertial technology in recent years. Because the Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) in atomic gas has more condensate atoms, atomic gas is pure and thin, and there is no friction in atoms, the matter–wave gyroscopy with counter-rotating vortex superpositions has great potential of higher sensitivity, higher precision, and miniaturization. The basic mechanism and sensitivity of the matter– wave gyroscopy with counter-rotating vortex superpositions were analyzed, and the interaction between superposition of vortex beams and BEC atomic gases were studied, it is Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage (STIRAP). In the study, the outstanding issue that the gyroscopy is difficult to obtain stable vortices with high order orbital angular momentum was clarified by theoretical derivation on the base of Gross-Pitaevskii equation which is the basic equation in BEC. For solving the above problems, the scheme which is easy to achieve based on Sombrero potential trap was proposed.

Claude Fabre

Van Camp, A. Stanley Mackenzie