Michael D. Bulatowicz

Nuclear magnetic resonance gyroscope: For DARPA's micro-technology for positioning, navigation and timing program

Information on the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Gyro under development by Northrop Grumman Corporation is presented. The basics of Operation are summarized, a review of the completed phases is presented, and the current state of development and progress in phase 4 is discussed. Many details have been left out for the sake of brevity, but the principles are still complete.

Synchronously pumped NMR gyro

We are implementing a new design for spinexchange- pumped NMR gyros that addresses the key systematic errors as compared to previous implementations. The key concept is to drive magnetic resonance using spin-exchange collisions in a reference frame rotating about a bias magnetic field. The resulting purely transverse polarization is predicted to be insensitive to spin-exchange field shifts and quadrupole interactions, both of which are prominent in designs based on conventional magnetic resonance. Preliminary studies have identified a novel type of spin-exchange broadening that can be compensated to allow the system to reach T1-limited line width.