Bonn 2025 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 53: Matter Wave Interferometry II

Q 53.8: Talk

Thursday, March 13, 2025, 12:45–13:00, HS I

Theory of multi-axis atom interferometric sensing for inertial navigation — •Christian Struckmann, Knut Stolzenberg, Ernst M. Rasel, Dennis Schlippert, and Naceur Gaaloul — Leibniz University Hannover, Institute of Quantum Optics, Welfengarten 1, 30167 Hannover, Germany

Quantum sensors based on the interference of matter waves provide a highly sensitive and stable measurement tool for inertial forces with applications in geodesy, navigation, or fundamental physics. Conventional atom interferometers, however, can only measure inertial forces along a single axis, yielding information about one acceleration and one rotation component. To fully characterize the motion of a moving body, an inertial measurement unit must capture the acceleration and rotation along three perpendicular directions. Extending this atom interferometric measurement scheme to multiple components would normally require subsequent measurements along various spatial directions.

In this contribution, we present the theory behind PIXL (Parallelized Interferometers for XLerometry), a novel method to operate a quantum sensor based on a 2D array of Bose-Einstein Condensates enabling multi-axis sensing through simultaneously operated single-axis atom interferometers [K. Stolzenberg et al., arXiv:2403.08762 (2024)]. We detail the multi-dimensional scaling of the inertial phases as well as the capabilities of such a multi-axis measurement unit.

Keywords: Atom interferometry; Inertial sensing; Navigation; Multi-axis sensing; Gyroscope