Atomic interferometric accelerometer with enhanced vibrational stability

Abstract

An atomic interferometric accelerometer comprises a laser that emits a pulsed beam at a first frequency, an electro-optic modulator that receives the beam, and a vacuum cell in communication with the electro-optic modulator. The electro-optic modulator outputs a first optical signal corresponding to the beam at the first frequency and a second optical signal having a second frequency different from the first frequency. The vacuum cell has a chamber for laser cooled atoms. The vacuum cell receives the optical signals such that they propagate in a direction that passes through the atoms. A piezo mirror retro-reflects the optical signals back through the vacuum cell in a counter-propagating direction. The piezo mirror is driven with substantially constant velocity during a beam pulse, thereby imparting a Doppler shift to the retro-reflected optical signals to create two non-symmetric counter-propagating lightwave pairs. One of the lightwave pairs supports interferometry while the other is non-resonant.