Applications of Superradiant Lasers for Inertial Sensing

这是一个理论项目，旨在建立一种新型惯性传感器，能够观测和测量极小的旋转和极小的加速度。惯性传感器，包括陀螺仪和加速度计，在航空、包括潜艇和船舶在内的海洋交通工具以及天基运输平台的导航应用中尤为重要。现有技术令人印象深刻，但仍然存在导致显著漂移和不精确的轻微缺陷。这些缺陷很难用标准方法克服，因为它们来自于光散射等无处不在的现象。在这个项目中，PI提出了一个有计划的研究项目，将一种新的技术带到桌面上，这种技术在性能和对这些不利影响的稳健性方面具有潜在的优势。PI将从理论上分析这种基于全新物理原理的新型惯性传感器。该装置的核心是一种被称为超辐射的现象，也就是说，这个术语描述了当原子在特殊的内部状态下制备时，能量以光的形式从原子集合中潜在地快速耗散。超辐射激光陀螺仪中的原子通过在高适合度光学环形谐振器周围循环的光子耦合在一起。这种方法使用了具有长寿命光激发态的特殊原子；与最好的原子钟所用的状态相同。与现有技术相比，该系统具有潜在的性能优势，因为光学相干性存储在原子偶极子中，而不是存储在光学谐振腔场中。由于集体效应，这提供了相位刚性，避免了陀螺仪对限制几乎所有陀螺仪性能的标准不利缺陷的敏感。该项目的结果将是最终灵敏度和精度的定量计算，动态范围，以及对整体运动效果的分析。将评估对噪声源的鲁棒性，包括均匀和非均匀脱相（主要是多普勒效应），以及无所不在的光腔长度的振动和热波动。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This is a theoretical project to build a new kind of inertial sensor capable of observing and measuring extremely small rotations and extremely small accelerations. Inertial sensors, including both gyroscopes and accelerometers, are especially important in navigation applications for aviation, marine vehicles including submarines and ships, and space-based transport platforms. Existing technologies are impressive, but still suffer from slight imperfections that lead to significant drifts and imprecision. These imperfections are hard to overcome with standard approaches, since they arise from phenomena such as light scattering that are ubiquitous. In this project, the PI presents a planned program of research that brings to the table a new kind of technology with potential gains in performance and robustness to these adverse effects. The PI will analyze theoretically this new type of inertial sensor founded on a completely novel physical principle.At the heart of the proposed device is a phenomenon known as superradiance, that is, a term that describes the potentially rapid dissipation of energy in the form of light from an ensemble of atoms when they are prepared in special internal states. The atoms in the superradiant laser gyroscope are coupled together by photons that circulate around a high fitness optical ring resonator. The approach employs special atoms that possess long lived optically excited states; the same states that are used for the best atomic clocks. When compared with existing technologies, the system offers potential performance advantages that arise from the fact that the optical coherence is stored in the atomic dipoles rather than in the optical resonator field. This provides a phase rigidity due to collective effects that avoids the gyroscope being sensitive to the standard adverse imperfections that limit the performance of virtually all gyroscopes in the field. The outcomes of the project will be quantitative calculations of the ultimate sensitivity and precision, the dynamic range, and an analysis of motional effects in the ensemble. Evaluations will be made of the robustness to noise sources, including homogeneous and inhomogeneous dephasing (primarily Doppler effects), as well as the omnipresent vibrational and thermal fluctuations of the optical cavity length.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.