Cold-atom inertial sensors target several applications in navigation,geoscience and tests of fundamental physics. Reaching high samplingrates and high inertial sensitivities, obtained with long interrogationtimes, represents a challenge for these applications. We report on theinterleaved operation of a cold-atom gyroscope, where 3 atomic cloudsare interrogated simultaneously in an atom interferometer featuring a3.75 Hz sampling rate and an interrogation time of 801 ms. Interleavingimproves the inertial sensitivity to 3×10-9 rad.s-1.Hz-1/2 byefficiently averaging vibration noise, and allows us to perform dynamicrotation measurements in a so-far unexplored range. We demonstrate astability of 3×10-10 rad.s-1 after 30 000 s, which competes with thebest stability levels obtained with fiber-optics gyroscopes. Our workvalidates interleaving as a key concept for future atom-interferometrysensors probing time-varying signals, as in on-board navigation andgravity-gradiometry, searches for dark matter, or gravitational wavedetection.
Inertial sensors based on cold atoms and light-pulse interferometry exhibit state-of-the-art sensitivity and ultra-low measurement bias that could revolutionize a variety of fields including geophysics and seismology, gravitational wave detection and fundamental tests of gravity, and inertial navigation. In the latter case, cold-atom interferometers are widely considered as breakthrough technology for future autonomous INSs. Nowadays, absolute quantum inertial sensors are available as commercial and field-deployable devices. Yet, their current size and complexity has not yet reached a technology readiness level compatible with mobile applications or plug-and-play operation by non-specialists. These systems are in desperate need of further development and miniaturization. We will present progress beyond these first experiments while exploring new methods relying on 3D matter-wave manipulation that can lead to interferometer geometries that are simultaneously sensitive to accelerations and rotations in 3D and can discern their vector components within a single measurement. These novel innovations produce additional sensitivity to rotations and gravity gradients which has not yet been exploited experimentally and could be a game changing innovation for future atomic sensors. The ability to measure the full acceleration and rotation vectors with a compact, high-precision, low-bias inertial sensor could strongly impact the fields of inertial navigation, gravity gradiometry, and gyroscopy.
Cold-atom inertial sensors target several applications in navigation, geoscience and tests of fundamental physics. Reaching high sampling rates and high inertial sensitivities, obtained with long interrogation times, represents a challenge for these applications. We report on the interleaved operation of a cold-atom gyroscope, where 3 atomic clouds are interrogated simultaneously in an atom interferometer featuring a 3.75 Hz sampling rate and an interrogation time of 801 ms. Interleaving improves the inertial sensitivity by efficiently averaging vibration noise, and allows us to perform dynamic rotation measurements in a so-far unexplored range. We demonstrate a stability of
3×10−10 rad.s
−1, which competes with the best stability levels obtained with fiber-optics gyroscopes. Our work validates interleaving as a key concept for future atom-interferometry sensors probing time-varying signals, as in on-board navigation and gravity-gradiometry, searches for dark matter, or gravitational wave detection.