Atom interferometers for navigation

Arnaud Landragin, Jean Lautier, Indranil Dutta +5 more

Frank A. Narducci, Adam T. Black, John H. Burke

We review the field of atom interferometer inertial sensors. We begin by reviewing the path integral formulation of atom interferometers and then specialize the treatment to light-pulse atom interferometers and, in particular, gravimeters and gyroscopes. The bulk of the article focuses on the most common type of atom interferometer – the light-pulse interferometer, where the atom optics are composed of light pulses. Our article mainly focuses on a review of advances that aid in the practical implementation of atom interferometers toward gravimetry and inertial navigation. To that end, we develop a navigation model that aids in the connection of parameters and performance of atom interferometers to actual quantities of interest to the navigation community. Practical considerations of atomic inertial sensors, including dynamic range, bandwidth, dead time, and cross-coupling effects are discussed, before we review the field of accelerometer and gyroscope atom interferometers. Finally, we review advances in trapped-atom interferometers.

David E. Pritchard

Mary Locke, Frank A. Narducci

Abstract : In this article, we review the basic physics of an atom interferometer. We highlight the usefulness of atom interferometers for inertial navigation due to their high phase sensitivity to both linear acceleration and angular rotation, but also the drawback that a single atom interferometer cannot distinguish between the two sources of phase shifts. We describe a design for a dual atom interferometer to simultaneously measure acceleration and rotation and we describe the current status of our apparatus.

Christian Bordé, Carlos L. Garrido Alzar, Rémi Geiger +20 more

Christopher Jekeli

The recent development of the atom interferometer and its demonstration as an inertial sensor of acceleration and rotation rate augur a new generation of inertial navigation systems that would rival today's satellite navigation accuracy at the few-meter level. This paper reviews the principles of inertial measurement using the atom interferometer from a rudimentary viewpoint to illustrate the fundamentals and to highlight some of the potential shortcomings with a particular type, the cold-atom interferometer. One of these shortcomings is the fact that this interferometer requires a finite period of time during which the atoms are prepared (cooled) before they enter the interferometer and respond to its dynamics relative to an inertial frame. This lapse in the measurement duty cycle could be supplemented with very precise conventional inertial measurement units (IMUs), or eliminated with multiple, interleaved atom interferometers. Error analyses show that cold-atom interferometric IMUs that capture 50 percent of the dynamics must be coupled with conventional IMUs that are 50 times more accurate than typical navigation-grade units to sustain a horizontal position error of under 5 m (root mean square) after 1 h.