Composite-fringe atom interferometry for high dynamic-range sensing

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel composite-fringe atom interferometry scheme that significantly enhances dynamic range, enabling continuous tracking of rapidly varying signals with high sensitivity, validated through analytical and experimental methods.

Contribution

The paper introduces a composite-fringe technique combined with particle-filter estimation to vastly improve the dynamic range of atom interferometers beyond traditional limits.

Findings

Achieved a 50-fold increase in dynamic range.

Demonstrated continuous tracking of rapidly varying signals.

Validated performance through analytical and experimental analysis.

Abstract

Atom interferometers offer excellent sensitivity to gravitational and inertial signals but have limited dynamic range. We introduce a scheme that improves on this trade-off by a factor of 50 using composite fringes, obtained from sets of measurements with slightly varying interrogation times. We analyze analytically the performance gain in this approach and the trade-offs it entails between sensitivity, dynamic range, and temporal bandwidth, and we experimentally validate the analysis over a wide range of parameters. By combining composite-fringe measurements with a particle-filter estimation protocol, we demonstrate continuous tracking of a rapidly varying signal over a span two orders of magnitude larger than the dynamic range of a traditional atom interferometer.