Solutions
The Problem
Anything that moves needs to know how it is turning. When an external reference is not available, that knowledge has to come from the platform's own sensor — and the limits of that sensor become the limits of the whole system.
Conventional rotation sensors depend on moving mechanical parts. That dependency is the constraint our work addresses.
Our Solutions
Our NMR Gyroscope
A highly sensitive rotation sensor that uses the quantum behavior of atomic nuclei rather than moving mechanical parts.
A typical device contains a small vapor cell filled with rubidium atoms and a noble gas such as xenon. The xenon nuclei behave like tiny spinning magnets, and when they are placed in a magnetic field, they rotate, or precess, at a well-defined frequency known as the Larmor frequency.
- Optical pumping polarizes alkali atoms; spin-exchange transfers angular momentum to noble-gas nuclei.
- A resonant AC magnetic field drives coherent nuclear spin precession.
- Signal is read out optically via alkali-atom magnetometry (Fermi-contact enhanced).
Our HRG Optical
A highly sensitive rotation sensor that uses the mechanical vibration of a thin hemispherical resonator.
Instead of relying on a spinning rotor, the HRG operates by exciting a stable vibration pattern in the resonator. When the device rotates, the orientation of this vibration pattern changes due to the Coriolis effect, and this change can be used to determine the rotation rate.
- Using optical readout can also open the possibility of applying advanced photonic and quantum-optical techniques.
- Low-noise laser detection, interferometric techniques, or squeezed light can potentially reduce the measurement noise of the optical readout.
- An optically read HRG combines the long-term stability and robustness of a hemispherical resonator with the high sensitivity of laser-based displacement measurement.
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