High Energy Physics Seminars

Towards sensing rotation using Sagnac effect in atom interferometry.

by Dr. Sankarnarayanan S

Monday, October 15, 2018 from to (Asia/Kolkata)
at TIFR, Mumbai ( AG-66 )
Description
Highly accurate and precise detection of rotation is not only required in applications like real time inertial navigation, but also useful in the field of pure science like testing general relativity. In the year 1913, French physicist Georges Sagnac showed that rotation of an interferometer induces a phase shift in the two interfering paths. This shift results in a change in the interference pattern, which can be used to estimate the rotation of the apparatus with high accuracy and precision. This method was extended to atom interferometers, which has a much higher sensitivity compared to the light interferometers of similar size.
We are currently setting up an atom interferometer that has a sensitivity of measuring rotations up to few μrads per second using Sagnac effect. In this seminar I will explain the functioning of atom interferometer and how Sagnac effect can be used to detect rotation. I will also talk about various aspects of our experiment such as cooling and trapping of atoms, splitting of atom beam and internal state interference. I will conclude the talk by presenting the progress of the experiment in the lab so far.