Matter-Wave Rate Gyro Integrated onto an Atom Chip and Associated Accelerometer

摘要

The general field of the invention is that of rate gyros, of the matter-wave type, allowing the measurement of a speed of rotation in a given direction of measurement. This type of rate gyro works by the Sagnac effect and uses ultracold atoms to perform the measurement. It necessarily comprises an atom trap allowing a cloud of ultracold atoms to be immobilized in a given configuration and means for separation-displacement-recombination of the cloud into two packets of atoms so as to make them trace out a given area. The device according to the invention combines both of these two functions onto one atom chip notably comprising a first conducting wire through which a DC current I_DC flows with adjustable intensity, a second conducting wire and a third conducting wire that are substantially parallel, within the region of the trap, to the first conducting wire and are disposed symmetrically on either side of this first wire, the second and the third wire carrying an AC current of the same amplitude and same frequency flowing in the same direction, the maximum amplitude and the frequency of said current being sufficient to create, within the atom cloud, a magnetic field of higher intensity than the magnetic intensity required for the separation of the atom cloud into two packets of atoms.