On the Critical Impact of HF Power Drifts for Miniature Helium-Based NMR Gyroscopes

Agustin Palacios-Laloy (1) , Jaroslaw Rutkowski (2, 1) , Yann Troadec (1) , Jean-Michel Léger (1)

1 CEA-LETI - Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives - Laboratoire d'Electronique et de Technologie de l'Information
2 FEMTO-ST - Franche-Comté Électronique Mécanique, Thermique et Optique - Sciences et Technologies (UMR 6174)

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) gyroscopes constitute a promising technology for miniaturizing navigation-class gyroscopes. We analyze here a configuration based on a mixture of helium-3 and helium-4. We show that frequency shifts due to the circulation of coherence between helium atoms in metastable and fundamental states have a large impact on the gyroscope drift. In order to reach navigation-class, the high-frequency source used to ignite the plasma is required to have a long-term power stability better than ppm.

Keywords: NMR gyroscope; inertial sensors; atomic sensors; optical-pumping

Domains: Engineering Sciences [physics]

Agustin Palacios-Laloy, Jaroslaw Rutkowski, Yann Troadec, Jean-Michel Léger. On the Critical Impact of HF Power Drifts for Miniature Helium-Based NMR Gyroscopes. IEEE Sensors Journal, 2017, 17 (3), pp.657-659. ⟨10.1109/JSEN.2016.2632179⟩. ⟨cea-02202432⟩