DIVERGING WAVEGUIDE ATOMIC GYROSCOPE

摘要

Waveguide includes fork with first and second bifurcated ends coupled to loop section and separated by angle determined based on velocities of portions of quantum mechanical wavefunction of atoms traveling above waveguide. Waveguide propagates blue-detuned laser having first evanescent field that repels atoms away from waveguide and red-detuned laser having second evanescent field that attracts atoms toward waveguide, together creating potential minimum/well. Laser cooling atoms, causing atoms positioned in potential minimum/well to move toward first fork section following potential minimum/well. Atomic state initialization section initializes atomic states of atoms to known ground-state configuration. Beam splitter section splits quantum mechanical waveform of each atom above surface of diverging waveguide into first portion at first velocity that travels into first end of first fork section into first loop section and second portion at second velocity that travels into second end of first fork section into first loop section.

主权项

1. A diverging waveguide including:
a first section having a first end and a second end opposite the first end; a first fork section having a first single end, the first fork section also having a first bifurcated end and a second bifurcated end opposite the first single end, the first single end of the first fork section coupled to the first end of the first section, the first fork section configured with a first angle between the first bifurcated end and the second bifurcated end, the first angle determined based on velocities of portions of a quantum mechanical wavefunction of atoms configured to travel above the waveguide; and a first loop section having a first loop end and a second loop end, the first loop end coupled to the first bifurcated end of the first fork section and the second loop end coupled to the second bifurcated end of the first fork section; wherein the diverging waveguide is configured to propagate a blue-detuned waveguide laser light, the blue-detuned waveguide laser light at a first frequency above a resonant atomic frequency of atoms above a surface of the diverging waveguide, the blue-detuned laser light having a first evanescent field that extends above the surface of the diverging waveguide a first distance, the first evanescent field repelling the atoms away from the surface of the diverging waveguide; wherein the diverging waveguide is configured to propagate a red-detuned waveguide laser light, the red-detuned waveguide laser light at a second frequency below the resonant atomic frequency of the atoms above the surface of the diverging waveguide, the red-detuned laser light having a second evanescent field that extends above the surface of the diverging waveguide a second distance that is greater than the first distance, the second evanescent field attracting the atoms toward the surface of the diverging waveguide; wherein the first evanescent field and the second evanescent field create a potential minimum/well above the surface of the diverging waveguide, wherein the atoms are suspended in the potential minimum/well; wherein the first section of the diverging waveguide includes:
a laser cooling section positioned between the first end of the first section and the second end of the first section, the laser cooling section configured to cool at least a first group of the atoms down in a transverse direction to the first section of the diverging waveguide, causing the at least the first group of the atoms positioned in the potential minimum/well above the surface of the diverging waveguide to move in a first longitudinal direction toward the first fork section following the potential minimum/well above the surface of the diverging waveguide;a first atomic state initialization section positioned between the laser cooling section and the first fork section, the first atomic state initialization section configured to initialize atomic states of the at least the first group of the atoms moving in the first longitudinal direction following the potential minimum/well above the surface of the diverging waveguide to a known ground-state configuration; anda first beam splitter section positioned between the first atomic state initialization section and the first fork section, the first beam splitter section configured to split a quantum mechanical wavefunction of each atom of the at least the first group of the atoms moving in the first longitudinal direction following the potential minimum/well above the surface of the diverging waveguide into a first portion having a first velocity and a second portion having a second velocity different than the first velocity, wherein the first portion travels into the first bifurcated end of the first fork section of the diverging waveguide and into the first loop end of the first loop section, and wherein the second portion travels into the second bifurcated end of the first fork section of the diverging waveguide and into the second loop end of the first loop section.