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INTEGRATED PHOTONICS AND VACUUM PACKAGE DEVELOPMENT FOR A COLD-ATOM INTERFEROMETER .

Peter D. D. Schwindt

Published Dec 1, 2021• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report the current progress in the development of a compact, deployable cold-atom interferometry sensor platform towards atomic sensors for position, navigation, and time (PNT) applications.A simplified atomic sensor head with diffractive optics, a fixed-alignment optical package, and photonic-integrated-circuit (PIC) compatible laser architecture [1] are essential for its compactness and deployability.This cold atom sensor platform can be generally applied to gravimeters, accelerometers, gyroscopes, and clocks, and the sensor platform includes significant engineering efforts in the development of grating-mirror magneto-optical traps (G-MOTs), ridgid structural design, a custom titanium vacuum package with passive pumping, and silicon photonics multi-channel on-chip single sideband modulators.

DOI
10.2172/2001525

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We report the current progress in the development of a compact, deployable cold-atom interferometry sensor platform towards atomic sensors for position, navigation, and time (PNT) applications.A simplified atomic sensor head with diffractive optics, a fixed-alignment optical package, and photonic-integrated-circuit (PIC) compatible laser architecture [1] are essential for its compactness and deployability.This cold atom sensor platform can be generally applied to gravimeters, accelerometers, gyroscopes, and clocks, and the sensor platform includes significant engineering efforts in the development of grating-mirror magneto-optical traps (G-MOTs), ridgid structural design, a custom titanium vacuum package with passive pumping, and silicon photonics multi-channel on-chip single sideband modulators.
We report the current progress in the development of a compact, deployable cold-atom interferometry sensor platform towards atomic sensors for position, navigation, and time (PNT) applications. A simplified atomic sensor head with diffractive optics, an alignment-free optical package, and photonic-integrated-circuit (PIC) compatible laser architecture [1] are essential for its compactness and deployability. This cold-atom sensor platform can be generally applied to gravimeters, accelerometers, gyroscopes, and clocks, and the sensor platform includes significant engineering efforts in the development of grating-mirror magneto-optical traps (G-MOTs), custom titanium vacuum package with passive pumping, and silicon photonics multi-channel on-chip single sideband modulators.
The extreme miniaturization of a cold-atom interferometer accelerometer requires the development of novel technologies and architectures for the interferometer subsystems. Here we describe several component technologies and a laser system architecture to enable a path to such miniaturization. We developed a custom, compact titanium vacuum package containing a microfabricated grating chip for a tetrahedral grating magneto-optical trap (GMOT) using a single cooling beam. In addition, we designed a multi-channel photonic-integrated-circuit-compatible laser system implemented with a single seed laser and single sideband modulators in a time-multiplexed manner, reducing the number of optical channels connected to the sensor head. In a compact sensor head containing the vacuum package, sub-Doppler cooling in the GMOT produces 15 uK temperatures, and the GMOT can operate at a 20 Hz data rate. We validated the atomic coherence with Ramsey interferometry using microwave spectroscopy, then demonstrated a light-pulse atom interferometer in a gravimeter configuration for a 10 Hz measurement data rate and T = 0 - 4.5 ms interrogation time, resulting in ΔΔΔ g / g = 2.0e-6. This work represents a significant step towards deployable cold-atom inertial sensors under large amplitude motional dynamics.
Abstract The extreme miniaturization of a cold-atom interferometer accelerometer requires the development of novel technologies and architectures for the interferometer subsystems. We describe several component technologies and a laser system architecture to enable a path to such miniaturization. We developed a custom, compact titanium vacuum package containing a microfabricated grating chip for a tetrahedral grating magneto-optical trap (GMOT) using a single cooling beam. The vacuum package is integrated into the optomechanical design of a compact cold-atom sensor head with fixed optical components. In addition, a multichannel laser system driven by a single seed laser has been implemented with time-multiplexed frequency shifting using single sideband modulators, reducing the number of optical channels connected to the sensor head. This laser system architecture is compatible with a highly miniaturized photonic integrated circuit approach, and by demonstrating atom-interferometer operation with this laser system, we show feasibility for the integrated photonic approach. In the compact sensor head, sub-Doppler cooling in the GMOT produces 15 μK temperatures, which can operate at a 20 Hz data rate for the atom interferometer sequence. After validating atomic coherence with Ramsey interferometry, we demonstrate a light-pulse atom interferometer in a gravimeter configuration without vibration isolation for 10 Hz measurement cycle rate and T = 0 - 4.5 ms interrogation time, resulting in Δg/g = 2.0e-6. All these efforts demonstrate progress towards deployable cold-atom inertial sensors under large amplitude motional dynamics.
We demonstrate a compact light-pulse atom interferometer (LPAI) with a high data-rate grating magneto-optical trap (GMOT) and a photonic-integrated-circuit (PIC)-compatible laser system. These efforts are aligned with one of our primary goals, LPAI operation in high-dynamic environments through ruggedization and miniaturization of the sensor head and laser systems. The compact sensor head is based on a custom vacuum package and a grating chip with fixed optical components. The high data-rate LPAI operation with a GMOT enables the operation of LPAIs in high dynamics. PIC-compatible and PIC-based laser systems are realized and used to demonstrate LPAIs towards miniature cold-atom inertial sensors. Acknowledgement This work was supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program at Sandia National Laboratories and is funded under the DARPA APhI program. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-mission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525. This paper describes technical results and analysis. Any subjective views or opinions that might be expressed in the paper do not necessarily represent the view of the U.S. Department of Energy or the United States Government.
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.