A cold atom interferometry sensor platform based on diffractive optics and integrated photonics

Abstract

We report the current progress in the development of a compact, deployable cold-atom interferometry sensor platform towards atomic sensors for position, navigation, and time (PNT) applications. A simplified atomic sensor head with diffractive optics, an alignment-free optical package, and photonic-integrated-circuit (PIC) compatible laser architecture [1] are essential for its compactness and deployability. This cold-atom sensor platform can be generally applied to gravimeters, accelerometers, gyroscopes, and clocks, and the sensor platform includes significant engineering efforts in the development of grating-mirror magneto-optical traps (G-MOTs), custom titanium vacuum package with passive pumping, and silicon photonics multi-channel on-chip single sideband modulators.