High Flux Compact Strontium Source

IFOS and collaborators will develop a miniaturized high flux Strontium (Sr) thermal beam source for Atom Interferometric Gyroscopes (AIG) and other quantum devices. The team will establish novel methods and geometries for Sr beam generation, handling and interrogation. Chip scale integration and encapsulation techniques will be used to achieve a viable self-contained source and beam path. The team will ascertain the need and options for optical cooling versus geometrical filtration of the generated atomic beam. The outcome of these combined studies of atomic beam generation and atomic beam treatment will be used to arrive at a proposed device concept for a demonstrator prototype. Quantum-based sensors such as atom interferometric devices see significant attention from the space community as well as defense companies and agencies. Quantum computing is of large interest for defense and dual use, none the least because of superior encryption potential. For the space community, AIGs and clocks provide long term independence potential as well as usage during periods where star trackers are not available, such as during landing periods or other events where the tracker cannot be pointed towards the starts for referencing. For defense applications, independence from GPS signals is of critical importance for long-term autonomous operation of vehicles and other devices.  New Inertial Measurement Systems (IMS) are critical in areas where GPS services are denied or are prone to cyber-attacks. AIG-based IMS provide ultra-high inertial rate sensing stability and accuracy, but face challenges in size reduction due, in large part, to bulky lasers and phase modulation devices. The proposed chip-scale strontium source design enables significant size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) reduction for such applications. For additional reduction of SWaP-C of the optical drive train and periphery, IFOS will develop an innovative Application-Specific Photonic Integrated Circuit (ASPIC) to realize an Integrated Optical Driver (IOD). Beam velocity filtration will be studied. In Phase I, concept design and source modeling will be carried out. In Phase II, a demonstrator unit will be designed, fabricated and tested. In Phase III, options for sensor fusion, including interaction and integration with other navigation sensors such as exceptional point gyroscopes will be established.