RESUMEN
Multiloop matter-wave interferometers are essential in quantum sensing to measure the derivatives of physical quantities in time or space. Because multiloop interferometers require multiple reflections, imperfections of the matter-wave mirrors create spurious paths that scramble the signal of interest. Here, we demonstrate a method of adjustable momentum transfer that prevents the recombination of the spurious paths in a double-loop atom interferometer aimed at measuring rotation rates. We experimentally study the recombination condition of the spurious matter waves, which is quantitatively supported by a model accounting for the coherence properties of the atomic source. We finally demonstrate the effectiveness of the method in building a cold-atom gyroscope with a single-shot acceleration sensitivity suppressed by a factor of at least 50. Our study will impact the design of multiloop atom interferometers that measure a single inertial quantity.
RESUMEN
Cold-atom inertial sensors target several applications in navigation, geoscience, and tests of fundamental physics. Achieving high sampling rates and high inertial sensitivities, obtained with long interrogation times, represents a challenge for these applications. We report on the interleaved operation of a cold-atom gyroscope, where three atomic clouds are interrogated simultaneously in an atom interferometer featuring a sampling rate of 3.75 Hz and an interrogation time of 801 ms. Interleaving improves the inertial sensitivity by efficiently averaging vibration noise and allows us to perform dynamic rotation measurements in a so far unexplored range. We demonstrate a stability of 3 × 10-10 rad s-1 , which competes with the best stability levels obtained with fiber-optic gyroscopes. Our work validates interleaving as a key concept for future atom-interferometry sensors probing time-varying signals, as in on-board navigation and gravity gradiometry, searches for dark matter, or gravitational wave detection.