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National Science Review

Realization of a cold atom gyroscope in space

Jinting Li, Xi Chen, Danfang Zhang, Wenzhang Wang, Yang Zhou, Meng He, Jie Fang, Lin Zhou, Chuan He, Junjie Jiang, Huanyao Sun, Qunfeng Chen, Lei Qin, Xiao Li, Yibo Wang, Xiaowei Zhang, Jiaqi Zhong, Runbing Li, Meizhen An, Long Zhang, Shuquan Wang, Zongfeng Li, Jin Wang, Mingsheng Zhan

Published Jan 11, 2025• 17 citations
Publisher

Abstract

High-precision gyroscopes in space are essential for fundamental physics research and navigation. Due to its potential high precision, the cold atom gyroscope is expected to be one of the next generation of gyroscopes in space. Here, we report the first realization of a cold atom gyroscope, which was demonstrated by the atom interferometer installed in the China Space Station (CSS) as a payload. By compensating for the CSS's high dynamic rotation rate using a built-in piezoelectric mirror, spatial interference fringes in the interferometer are successfully obtained. Then, the optimized ratio of the Raman laser's angles is derived, the coefficients of the piezoelectric mirror are self-calibrated in orbit, and various systemic effects are corrected. We achieve a rotation measurement resolution of 50 μrad/s for a single shot and 17 μrad/s for an average number of 32. The measured rotation is -1142 ± 29 μrad/s and is compatible with that recorded by the classical gyroscope of the CSS. This study paves the way for developing high-precision cold atom gyroscopes in space.

DOI
10.1093/nsr/nwaf012

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High-precision gyroscopes in space are essential for fundamental physics research and navigation. Due to its potential high precision, the cold atom gyroscope is expected to be one of the next generation of gyroscopes in space. Here, we report the first realization of a cold atom gyroscope, which was demonstrated by the atom interferometer installed in the China Space Station (CSS) as a payload. By compensating for the CSS's high dynamic rotation rate using a built-in piezoelectric mirror, spatial interference fringes in the interferometer are successfully obtained. Then, the optimized ratio of the Raman laser's angles is derived, the coefficients of the piezoelectric mirror are self-calibrated in orbit, and various systemic effects are corrected. We achieve a rotation measurement resolution of 50 μrad/s for a single shot and 17 μrad/s for an average number of 32. The measured rotation is -1142 ± 29 μrad/s and is compatible with that recorded by the classical gyroscope of the CSS. This study paves the way for developing high-precision cold atom gyroscopes in space.
High-precision gyroscopes in space are essential for fundamental physics research and navigation. Due to its potential high precision, the cold atom gyroscope is expected to be the next generation of gyroscopes in space. Here, we report the first realization of a cold atom gyroscope, which was demonstrated by the atom interferometer installed in the China Space Station (CSS) as a payload. By compensating for CSS's high dynamic rotation rate using a built-in piezoelectric mirror, spatial interference fringes in the interferometer are successfully obtained. Then, the optimized ratio of the Raman laser's angles is derived, the coefficients of the piezoelectric mirror are self-calibrated in orbit, and various systemic effects are corrected. We achieve a rotation measurement resolution of 50*10^-6 rad/s for a single shot and 17*10^-6 rad/s for an average number of 32. The measured rotation is (-1142+/-29)*10^-6 rad/s and is compatible with that recorded by the classical gyroscope of the CSS. This study paves the way for developing high-precision cold atom gyroscopes in space.
The exquisite precision of atom interferometers has sparked the interest of a large community for uses ranging from fundamental physics to geodesy and inertial navigation. However, their implementation for onboard applications is still limited, not least because rotation and acceleration are intertwined in a single phase shift, which makes the extraction of a useful signal more challenging. Moreover, the spatial separation of the wave packets due to rotations leads to a loss of signal. We present an atom interferometer operating over a large range of random angles, rotation rates and accelerations. A model of the expected phase shift allows us to untangle the rotation and acceleration signals. We also implement a real-time compensation system using fiber-optic gyroscopes and a rotating reference mirror to maintain the full contrast of the interferometer. We demonstrate a single-shot sensitivity to acceleration of 24 μg for rotation rates reaching 14° s−1. Cold atoms inertial sensors offer great precision and sensitivity, yet their use in mobile applications has been hindered by the effects of rotations on their measurements. Here, authors demonstrate an atom interferometer operating over a wide range of orientations and rotation rates, thanks to hybridisation with accelerometers and gyroscopes.
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.
In this paper,we described the progress of cold atom gyroscope.We launched the atoms along the same trajectory accurately and the opposite direction by controlling the frequency of directed digital system circuit.Using stimulated Raman beams,we operated the cold atoms and realized the atom interferometer fringes.With this configuration,it will greatly eliminate the common mode noise caused by uncertainty factor,such as the phase of the Raman laser beams,the gravity acceleration.It will significantly improve the precision in our experiment.The atom gyroscope will give a new way for the inertial navigation technology in the future.
Atom-interferometer gyroscopes have attracted much attention for their long-term stability and extremely low drift. For such high-precision instruments, self-calibration to achieve an absolute rotation measurement is critical. In this work, we propose and demonstrate the self-calibration of an atom-interferometer gyroscope. This calibration is realized by using the detuning of the laser frequency to control the atomic velocity, thus modulating the scale factor of the gyroscope. The modulation determines the order and the initial phase of the interference stripe, thus eliminating the ambiguity caused by the periodicity of the interferometric signal. This self-calibration method is validated through a measurement of the Earth's rotation rate, and a relative uncertainty of 162 ppm is achieved. Long-term stable and self-calibrated atom-interferometer gyroscopes have important applications in the fields of fundamental physics, geophysics, and long-time navigation.
Using the technique of point source atom interferometry, we characterize the sensitivity of a multi-axis gyroscope based on free-space Raman interrogation of a single source of cold atoms in a glass vacuum cell. The instrument simultaneously measures the acceleration in the direction of the Raman laser beams and the component of the rotation vector in the plane perpendicular to that direction. We characterize the sensitivities for the magnitude and direction of the rotation vector measurement, which are 0.033 ∘/s^{\circ}/\mathrm{s}∘/s and 0.27 ∘^{\circ}∘ with one second averaging time, respectively. The sensitivity could be improved by increasing the Raman interrogation time, allowing the cold-atom cloud to expand further, correcting the fluctuations in the initial cloud shape, and reducing sources of technical noise. The unique ability of the PSI technique to measure the rotation vector in a plane may permit applications of atom interferometry such as tracking the precession of a rotation vector and gyrocompassing.