We realize beam splitters and mirrors for atom waves by employing a sequence of light pulses rather than individual ones. In this way we can tailor atom interferometers with improved sensitivity and accuracy. We demonstrate our method of composite pulses by creating a symmetric matter-wave interferometer which combines the advantages of conventional Bragg- and Raman-type concepts. This feature leads to an interferometer with a high immunity to technical noise allowing us to devise a large-area Sagnac gyroscope yielding a phase shift of 6.5 rad due to the Earth's rotation. With this device we achieve a rotation rate precision of 120  nrad s(-1) Hz(-1/2) and determine the Earth's rotation rate with a relative uncertainty of 1.2%.

We report on the realization of a compact atomic Mach-Zehndertype Sagnac interferometer of 13.7 cm length, which covers an area of 19 mm 2 previously reported only for large thermal beam interferometers. According to Sagnac's formula, which holds for both light and atoms, the sensitivity for rotation rates increases linearly with the area enclosed by the interferometer. The use of cold atoms instead of thermal atoms enables miniaturization of Sagnac interferometers without sacrificing large areas. In comparison with thermal beams, slow atoms offer better matching of the initial beam velocity and the velocity with which the matter waves separate. In our case, the area is spanned by a cold atomic beam of 2.79 m s −1 , which is split, deflected and combined by driving a Raman transition between the two hyperfine ground states of 87 Rb in three spatially separated light zones. The use of cold atoms requires a precise angular alignment and high wave front quality of the three independent light zones over the cloud envelope. We present a procedure for mutually aligning the beam splitters at the microradian level by making use of the atom interferometer itself in different configurations. With this method, we currently achieve a sensitivity of 6.1 × 10 −7 rad s −1 Hz −1/2 .

We present a compact and transportable inertial sensor for precision sensing of rotations and accelerations. The sensor consists of a dual Mach-Zehnder-type atom interferometer operated with laser-cooled 87 Rb. Raman processes are employed to coherently manipulate the matter waves. We describe and characterize the experimental apparatus. A method for passing from a compact geometry to an extended interferometer with three independent atom-light interaction zones is proposed and investigated. The extended geometry will enhance the sensitivity by more than two orders of magnitude which is necessary to achieve sensitivities better than 10 −8 rad/s/ √ Hz.

The sensitivity of light and matter-wave interferometers to rotations is based on the Sagnac effect and increases with the area enclosed by the interferometer. In the case of light, the latter can be enlarged by forming multiple fibre loops, whereas the equivalent for matter-wave interferometers remains an experimental challenge. We present a concept for a multi-loop atom interferometer with a scalable area formed by light pulses. Our method will offer sensitivities as high as $$2\times 10^{-11}$$ 2 × 10 - 11  rad/s at 1 s in combination with the respective long-term stability as required for Earth rotation monitoring.

Interféromètre atomique Gyromètres Capteurs inertiels Atomes froidsWe report on recent progress on our matter-wave Sagnac interferometer capable of resolving ultra-slow rotations below the μrad s −1 level with a 1-s measurement time and a repetition rate of 2 Hz. Two Raman interferometers are employed that are susceptible to rotation and acceleration. We demonstrate two read-out schemes exploiting the strict phase correlation of the dual interferometer, the first one locking the interferometer to the mid-fringe position, and the second relying on phase modulation combined with ellipse fitting. In both, the sensitivity to gravity acceleration is employed for controlling the differential interferometer phase without influencing the rotation signal. Furthermore, we discuss errors in the rotation signal arising from atom source instabilities combined with a residual misalignment of the three pulsed light gratings used for atomic diffraction. Monitoring the source position fluctuations allows us to suppress this spurious signal. We achieve stable operation with a sensitivity of 850 nrad s −1 Hz −1/2 for a 1-s measurement time, and 20 nrad s −1 after 4000 s of averaging.