Transit-time-resonant interferometry in a strontium thermal beam gyroscope

Abstract

We demonstrate an atom interferometer gyroscope (AIG) using a strontium thermal beam. Our compact AIG consists of a stream of strontium atoms interacting with three laser pulses that split and recombine the matterwave flux to create a Mach-Zhender (MZ) interferometer sensitive to rotation. This system requires no cooling, no state preparation, and requires no microwave components. We also demonstrate a novel phase modulation technique for detecting the AIG response, which is especially useful for interferometers with a short time-of-flight. We will discuss our approach, latest results, and future plans. This thesis is organized in the following manner: Chapter 1 provides context to this work followed by relevant properties of ⁸⁸Sr. An overview of atom interferometry gyroscopes is covered in Chapter 2 followed by an explanation of phase modulation and its use in signal extraction in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 covers numerical investigation of the system parameter space. Next, the experimental apparatus is discussed in Chapter 5 followed by the results of our efforts in Chapter 6. Finally, Chapter 7 provides a summary of the most notable conclusions in this work.