257 research outputs found
Characterization and limits of a cold atom Sagnac interferometer
We present the full evaluation of a cold atom gyroscope based on atom
interferometry. We have performed extensive studies to determine the systematic
errors, scale factor and sensitivity. We demonstrate that the acceleration
noise can be efficiently removed from the rotation signal allowing to reach the
fundamental limit of the quantum projection noise for short term measurements.
The technical limits to the long term sensitivity and accuracy have been
identified, clearing the way for the next generations of ultra-sensitive atom
gyroscopes
Phase locking a clock oscillator to a coherent atomic ensemble
The sensitivity of an atomic interferometer increases when the phase
evolution of its quantum superposition state is measured over a longer
interrogation interval. In practice, a limit is set by the measurement process,
which returns not the phase, but its projection in terms of population
difference on two energetic levels. The phase interval over which the relation
can be inverted is thus limited to the interval ; going beyond
it introduces an ambiguity in the read out, hence a sensitivity loss. Here, we
extend the unambiguous interval to probe the phase evolution of an atomic
ensemble using coherence preserving measurements and phase corrections, and
demonstrate the phase lock of the clock oscillator to an atomic superposition
state. We propose a protocol based on the phase lock to improve atomic clocks
under local oscillator noise, and foresee the application to other atomic
interferometers such as inertial sensors.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
A compact micro-wave synthesizer for transportable cold-atom interferometers
We present the realization of a compact micro-wave frequency synthesizer for
an atom interferometer based on stimulated Raman transitions, applied to
transportable inertial sensing. Our set-up is intended to address the hyperfine
transitions of Rubidium 87 atoms at 6.8 GHz. The prototype is evaluated both in
the time and the frequency domain by comparison with state-of-the-art frequency
references developed at LNE-SYRTE. In free-running mode, it features a residual
phase noise level of -65 dBrad$^2.Hz^{-1} at 10-Hz offset frequency and a white
phase noise level in the order of -120 dBrad^2.Hz^{-1} for Fourier frequencies
above 10 kHz. The phase noise effect on the sensitivity of the atomic
interferometer is evaluated for diverse values of cycling time, interrogation
time and Raman pulse duration. To our knowledge, the resulting contribution is
well below the sensitivity of any demonstrated cold atom inertial sensors based
on stimulated Raman transitions. The drastic improvement in terms of size,
simplicity and power consumption paves the way towards field and mobile
operations.Comment: accepted for publication in Review of Scientific Instruments, 6
pages, 4 figure
Feedback control of trapped coherent atomic ensembles
We demonstrate how to use feedback to control the internal states of trapped
coherent ensembles of two-level atoms, and to protect a superposition state
against the decoherence induced by a collective noise. Our feedback scheme is
based on weak optical measurements with negligible back-action and coherent
microwave manipulations. The efficiency of the feedback system is studied for a
simple binary noise model and characterized in terms of the trade-off between
information retrieval and destructivity from the optical probe. We also
demonstrate the correction of more general types of collective noise. This
technique can be used for the operation of atomic interferometers beyond the
standard Ramsey scheme, opening the way towards improved atomic sensors.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
Enhancing the area of a Raman atom interferometer using a versatile double-diffraction technique
IIn this paper we demonstrate a new scheme for Raman transitions which
realize a symmetric momentum-space splitting of , deflecting the
atomic wave-packets into the same internal state. Combining the advantages of
Raman and Bragg diffraction, we achieve a three pulse state labelled
interferometer, intrinsically insensitive to the main systematics and
applicable to all kind of atomic sources. This splitting scheme can be extended
to momentum transfer by a multipulse sequence and is implemented
on a interferometer. We demonstrate the area enhancement by
measuring inertial forces
How to estimate the differential acceleration in a two-species atom interferometer to test the equivalence principle
We propose a scheme for testing the weak equivalence principle (Universality
of Free Fall) using an atom-interferometric measurement of the local
differential acceleration between two atomic species with a large mass ratio as
test masses. A apparatus in free fall can be used to track atomic free-fall
trajectories over large distances. We show how the differential acceleration
can be extracted from the interferometric signal using Bayesian statistical
estimation, even in the case of a large mass and laser wavelength difference.
We show that this statistical estimation method does not suffer from
acceleration noise of the platform and does not require repeatable experimental
conditions. We specialize our discussion to a dual potassium/rubidium
interferometer and extend our protocol with other atomic mixtures. Finally, we
discuss the performances of the UFF test developed for the free-fall (0-g)
airplane in the ICE project (\verb"http://www.ice-space.fr"
Spin-squeezing and Dicke state preparation by heterodyne measurement
We investigate the quantum non-demolition (QND) measurement of an atomic
population based on a heterodyne detection and show that the induced
back-action allows to prepare both spin-squeezed and Dicke states. We use a
wavevector formalism to describe the stochastic process of the measurement and
the associated atomic evolution. Analytical formulas of the atomic distribution
momenta are derived in the weak coupling regime both for short and long time
behavior, and they are in good agreement with those obtained by a Monte-Carlo
simulation. The experimental implementation of the proposed heterodyne
detection scheme is discussed. The role played in the squeezing process by the
spontaneous emission is considered
Diffuse reflection of a Bose-Einstein condensate from a rough evanescent wave mirror
We present experimental results showing the diffuse reflection of a
Bose-Einstein condensate from a rough mirror, consisting of a dielectric
substrate supporting a blue-detuned evanescent wave. The scattering is
anisotropic, more pronounced in the direction of the surface propagation of the
evanescent wave. These results agree very well with theoretical predictions.Comment: submitted to J Phys B, 10 pages, 6 figure
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