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Optical and Quantum Sensing and Precision Metrology II

A dual-isotope atomic beam interferometer

Sunil Kumar Upadhyay, Adam T. Black, Jonathan M. Kwolek

Published Mar 5, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Multi-isotope operation of atom interferometers can enable new practical capabilities such as concurrent and co-located interferometers exhibiting multi-axis or multi-scale-factor measurement, in addition to fundamental studies such as equivalence principle tests. We describe the development of a dual-isotope interferometer based on a continuously laser-cooled atomic beam. In addition, we provide an update on our development of a dualbeam atomic gyroscope using continuous, counterpropagating, 3D-cooled rubidium beams for inertial sensing applications.

DOI
10.1117/12.3089900

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Multi-isotope operation of atom interferometers can enable new practical capabilities such as concurrent and co-located interferometers exhibiting multi-axis or multi-scale-factor measurement, in addition to fundamental studies such as equivalence principle tests. We describe the development of a dual-isotope interferometer based on a continuously laser-cooled atomic beam. In addition, we provide an update on our development of a dualbeam atomic gyroscope using continuous, counterpropagating, 3D-cooled rubidium beams for inertial sensing applications.
Atom interferometers make use of the interference of matter waves for precise measurement of motion. Employing 3D-laser-cooled atoms provides improved fringe contrast, while measuring in a continuous beam architecture provides high-bandwidth measurement, error suppression of time-varying signals, and the elimination of measurement dead time. In this paper, we discuss the initial observation of interference signals in a dual-beam, 3D-cooled atomic beam interferometer architecture. Additionally, we perform initial characterization of the response of the atom interferometer signal to laser intensity and frequency noise.
We present an interferometric inertial sensor that utilizes two counter-propagating atomic beams with transverse two-dimensional cooling. By employing three parallel and spatially aligned Raman laser beams for Doppler-sensitive Raman transitions, we successfully generate inertia-sensitive Mach-Zehnder interference fringes with an interrogation length of 2L = 54 cm. The sensor’s capability to measure rotation and acceleration simultaneously in dynamic environments is validated through comparative analysis with classical sensors under force oscillation in different directions. Additionally, we conduct experiments on a turntable to calibrate the gyroscope’s scaling factor and address nonlinearity. The angular random walk (ARW) and velocity random walk (VRW) of the sensor are 3×10−4 °/√h and 107 μg/√Hz, respectively, with the long-term stability reaching 9 × 10−4 °/h for rotation and 10 μg for acceleration at an integration time of 1000 s.
In atomic sensors, continuous interrogation of laser-cooled atoms carries the benefits of improved sensitivity and high measurement bandwidth. However, cooling in proximity to coherent atomic state evolution can degrade performance in compact systems, due to decoherence. This study demonstrates an inertially sensitive matter-wave interferometer in a three-dimensionally-cooled atomic beam that mitigates decoherence while operating continuously. The technique could enable compact atom-interferometer sensors that measure continuously and with high sensitivity on dynamic platforms.
Light-pulsed atomic interferometers provide a promising quantum-based solution for inertial navigation applications. In this paper, we present an atomic interferometric inertial sensor designed to simultaneously measure rotation rate and acceleration, through continuous sampling using dual87Rb atomic beams as matter-wave sources. We observe Raman-Ramsey and Raman-Mach-Zehnder interferences and validate the inertial sensing capability by comparing the results with a classical quartz accelerometer and an optical-fiber gyroscope. Our work can serve as a foundational element for the development of a fully quantum inertial measurement unit characterized with a high data rate and large bandwidth.
The use of atom interferometers in inertial systems holds the promise of improvement of several orders of magnitude in sensitivity over sensors using current technology such as micro-electro-mechanical (MEMS) devices or ring laser gyroscopes (RLGs). This paper describes the construction and characterization of an atomic interferometry system for eventual use in a dual-atom-beam accelerometer/gyroscope sensor. In contrast with current state-of-the-art atomic sensors which use pulsed cold atom sources and pulsed laser beams, the investigated apparatus relies purely on continuous atomic and laser beams. These differences can result in a sensor with reduced complexity, a smaller physical footprint, and reduced power consumption. However, these differences also introduce challenges resulting from laser and atomic beam divergences and from velocity averaging due to both longitudinal and transverse velocity spreads. In this work, we characterize our rubidium-based atom beam system and show that Ramsey-style interference can still be observed. The implications for future research are also outlined and discussed.
We demonstrate a closed-loop light-pulse atom-interferometer inertial sensor that can realize continuous decoupled measurements of acceleration and rotation rate. The sensor operates with double-loop atom interferometers, which share the same Raman light pulses in a spatially separated Mach-Zehnder configuration and use continuous cold atomic beams propagating in opposite directions from two 2D+{\text{2D}}^{+}2D+ magneto-optical trappings. Acceleration and the rotation rate are decoupled and simultaneously measured by the sum and difference of dual-atom-interferometer signals, respectively. The sensitivities of inertial measurements are also increased to be approximately 1.86 times higher than that of a single atom interferometer. The acceleration phase shift is compensated in real time by phase locking these interferometers via the Raman laser phases from the sum-interferometer signal, and the gyroscope performance is improved. We achieve long-term stabilities of $6.1\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\text{\ensuremath{\mu}}\text{g}$ and 840 nrad/s for the acceleration and the rotation rate, respectively, using a short interrogation time of 0.87 ms (interference area A=0.097mm2A=0.097\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}{\text{mm}}^{2}A=0.097mm2). This work provides a building block for an atomic interferometer-based inertial measurement unit for use in field applications that require a high data rate and high stability.