Atomic Physics Seminars This Term

Robust and accurate acceleration tracking remains a challenge in many fields. For geophysics and economic geology, precise gravity mapping requires onboard sensors combined with accurate positioning and navigation systems. Cold-atom-based quantum inertial sensors can provide such high-precision instruments. However, current scalar instruments require precise alignment with vector quantities such as gravity. This presents a significant challenge in mobile environments. In recent work, we realized the first “vectorial” quantum accelerometer by combining three orthogonal atom interferometer measurements with a classical accelerometer triad. We demonstrate acceleration vector tracking with a 50-fold improvement in stability compared to our navigation-grade classical accelerometers. In this talk, I will give an overview of our vectorial quantum sensor and discuss future work moving beyond scalar quantum sensing.

Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) are alternatives to GPS that operate using linear accelerometers and gyroscopes to calculate the user’s position, orientation, and velocity using no external reference. Optical Sagnac gyroscopes are part of modern day INS and are limited by their ability to measure small rotations as they need a very large enclosed area. The Bragg Interferometer Gyroscope in a Time Orbiting Potential Trap (BIGTOP) is a rotation detector using a Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) to execute two Sagnac interferometers in a magnetic trap. BIGTOP is an improvement upon a previous iteration of a dual Sagnac interferometer which demonstrated rotation sensing. We have achieved atom interferometry with BIGTOP and reached a Sagnac area of 8 mm² using multiple orbits, an improvement by a factor of 16. Additionally, we have taken our first large dataset over the course of 24 hours, which can be used to analyze the stability of our system. In tandem with BIGTOP, we have also worked to characterize and operate a compact atom chip interferometer system built by Cold Quanta (CQsystem). We report BIGTOP results, progress with the CQ system, and future work.