Matter-wave analog of a fiber-optic gyroscope
Abstract
Confining the propagating wave packets of an atom interferometer inside a waveguide can substantially reduce the size of the device while preserving high sensitivity. We have realized a two-dimensional Sagnac atom interferometer in which Bose-condensed 87Rb atoms propagate within a tight waveguide formed by a collimated laser beam, a matter wave analog of the fiber optic gyro. The condensate is split, reflected, and recombined with a series of Bragg pulses while the waveguide moves transversely so that the wave-packet trajectories enclose an area. Delta-kick cooling is used to prepare low-density atomic wave packets with a temperature of 3 n K . The low density reduces the impact of interatomic interactions, while the low temperature limits the expansion of the wave packet during the interferometer cycle. The effective enclosed area is 0.8 m m2 with an average fringe contrast of 20% and underlying contrast up to 60%. The main source of the reduced average contrast is phase noise caused by mechanical vibrations of the optical components. We present a measurement of Allan deviation for such an atom rotation sensor, showing that the interferometer phase noise falls with averaging time τ as τ−1 /2 for τ up to 10 000 seconds. The statistical noise falls below the Earth rotation rate after 30 minutes of averaging.
- Publication:
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Physical Review A
- Pub Date:
- October 2023
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevA.108.043305
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2201.12461
- Bibcode:
- 2023PhRvA.108d3305K
- Keywords:
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- Physics - Atomic Physics