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Atom interferometer charters Navy's inertial navigation path to reduce drift

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2024-04-17 15:30:07

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Jonathan Kwolek, Ph.D., a research physicist from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Quantum Optics Section attaches fiber-optic cables to deliver light into the compact laser-delivery system, which is carefully aligned around a custom vacuum cell in the NRL Atom Interferometry Lab, Nov. 2, 2023. The apparatus will generate a cold, continuous atomic beam which will be delivered into the larger vacuum chamber to address Navy craft inertial navigation challenges. (U.S. Navy photo by Jonathan Steffen). Credit: (U.S. Navy / Jonathan Steffen)

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) researchers have developed a patent-pending Continuous 3D-Cooled Atom Beam Interferometer derived from a patented cold and continuous beam of atoms to explore atom-interferometry-based inertial measurement systems as a path to reduce drift in Naval navigation systems.