Metrology with Atom Interferometry: Inertial Sensors from Laboratory to Field Applications

Abstract

Developments in atom interferometry have led to atomic inertial sensors with extremely high sensitivity. Their performances are for the moment limited by the ground vibrations, the impact of which is exacerbated by the sequential operation, resulting in aliasing and dead time. We discuss several experiments performed at LNE-SYRTE in order to reduce these problems and achieve the intrinsic limit of atomic inertial sensors. These techniques have resulted in transportable and high-performance instruments that participate in gravity measurements, and pave the way to applications in inertial navigation. arXiv:1601.06082v1 [physics.atom-ph]

A marginally stable optical resonator for enhanced atom interferometry

“…In the following, we will therefore take as guideline that the cavity has to be resonant with a fundamental Gaussian beam of waist ω 0 = 5 mm. In order to be easily integrated on common AI experiments [16,17] we also set the maximum cavity length to be L = 1 m. As a resonance criteria for this Gaussian beam, we consider that its complex radius of curvature q 0 = iz r0 + z 0 (where ‡ We assume here that the initial position dispersion of the source is negligible after the time t free . z r0 = πω 2 0 λ is the Rayleigh length and z 0 the waist location) has to remain invariant on a cavity round trip.…”

A compact and robust diode laser system for atom interferometry on a sounding rocket

“…Since their first realization in 1991 [1] light pulse atom interferometers have matured into usable quantum sensors such as gravimeters [2], gradiometers [3] or gyroscopes [4]. Along with technological developments atom interferometers have become mobile sensors with applications in geodesy [5,6,7] and future developments will enable their utilization in the field for geophysics, seismology or navigation [8]. Moreover, systems featuring atom interferometry with various atomic species have been developed for high precision tests of fundamental physics such as the Universality of Free Fall (UFF) as part of the Einstein equivalence principle (EEP) with single [9,10] and dual species atom interferometers [11,12].…”

Three-Dimensional Cooling of an Atom-Beam Source for High-Contrast Atom Interferometry

“…Compared with hot-atom beam sources, the slower mean velocity and narrower velocity distribution of cold atom beams both increase the interrogation time T and increase the fringe contrast of atom interferometers and clocks, resulting in improved measurement sensitivity [5][6][7]. Cold-atom sensors that operate periodically rather than continuously can undersample signals and noise, leading to the Dick effect in clocks [8] and inertial navigation errors for accelerometers and gyroscopes [9][10][11][12][13].…”