Design and setup of an Atom Interferometer Gyroscope using a strontium thermal beam

Abstract

A gyroscope was developed and demonstrated using strontium atom interferometry on a rotating platform. This will allow us to study the interplay of the Atomic Interferometer Gyroscope (AIG) physics with large rotation rates. This apparatus, not tested yet, is very promising because the proof-of-concept experiment for the new strontium interferometer used by the gyroscope gave us good results and there are many improvements to be explored such as Large Momentum Transfer (LMT). The applications for this apparatus can be inertial navigation and geophysical studies. The principle of operation is as follows: A thermal strontium atomic beam crosses three laser interaction regions where resonant beams stimulate transitions between strontium ground states and excited states. With this transition, these beams transfer momentum to atoms that divide, deflect and recombine the atomic wavepackets. A rotation induced phase shift between the two arms of the gyroscope causes a change in the detected number of atoms with a particular internal state. The rotations phase shifts are proportional to the vector velocity of the atoms. Furthermore, rotation Doppler-shifts the π and π/2 beams.