Researchers at NIST have developed a compact atomic gyroscope that can simultaneously measure rotation, rotation angle, and acceleration using a single source of atoms. This is a significant advancement over current gyroscopes that can only measure one axis of rotation.
The NIST gyroscope, an atom interferometer, uses a cloud of cold rubidium atoms trapped in a 1 cm³ glass chamber. When the atoms are released and exposed to laser beams, their matter waves separate and recombine, creating interference patterns that reveal information about rotation and acceleration.
The device’s sensitivities for rotation magnitude and direction are 0.033 degrees per second and 0.27 degrees, respectively, approaching levels achieved by larger atom interferometers. The compact design, while still requiring a full-size optics table and electronics, represents progress toward portable applications.
The NIST team, led by Elizabeth Donley, includes three women researchers, which is unusual in physics. The development of portable, low-power atom interferometers is key to using them in navigation and geodesy applications.
Source: https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2019/07/nists-compact-atomic-gyroscope-displays-new-twists
Keywords: Atom interferometer, Rotation measurements, Acceleration detection
