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Optical Engineering

Physical system for horizontal counter-propagating atom interferometric gyroscope

Xianhua Wang, Sen Jia, Yue Zhang, Xiawen Cheng

Published May 29, 2025• 0 citations

Abstract

Utilizing the matter wave and Sagnac effect, the horizontal angular velocity and acceleration of a carrier can be precisely measured by a horizontal counter-propagating atom interferometric gyroscope. The physical system for horizontal counter-propagating atom interferometric gyroscope incorporates an ultrahigh vacuum environment along with specifically designed magnetic distributions and optical paths to control and detect atom states via lasers. We analyze the operational principles of the atom interferometric gyroscope, clarifying its functional requirements and basic mechanical components. From the theoretical analysis, critical specifications such as vacuum levels and magnetic field distributions in each functional area have been proposed. As a result, a comprehensive physical system for the atom interferometric gyroscope has been established. The measurement results indicate that the vacuum is maintained at 10−8 Pa, and each of the generated cold atom clouds in a three-dimensional magneto-optical trap has a diameter of ∼6 mm, contains ∼108 atoms, and maintains a temperature of 11 μK, fulfilling the prerequisites for horizontal angular velocity and acceleration measurements.

DOI: 10.1117/1.oe.64.5.054116

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A gyroscope based on Sagnac interferometer measures the rotation rate relative to an inertial frame of reference. Sagnac effect originally has been derived and experimentally demonstrated with optical waves. Later, matter wave based Sagnac interferometers were developed due to inherent sensitivity over a photon based system. However in any interferometer whether it is photon or matter wave based the resultant phase shift due to counter-rotating waves is independent of the wave velocity. Here we show that one can have a larger phase shift with slower matter waves using Aharonov-Bohm effect: the phase difference of the counter propagating waves is proportional to the inverse square of the particle velocity.