Compact, Agile Lasers for Advanced Inertial Sensors

To address the Navy’s need for compact, robust, and stable laser systems that are capable of producing the requisite laser frequencies for light pulse atom interferometry (LPAI), Intellisense Systems, Inc. proposes to develop new Compact, Agile Lasers for Advanced Inertial Sensors (CALAIS) based on a new design that utilizes previously developed mature components and state-of-the-art components. Specifically, the innovation in variable frequency phase locked loops will enable the system to provide all necessary laser frequencies for LPAI with a simplified architecture compared to current laser sources. As a result, this system offers up to three laser frequencies at once with an output power >50 mW: a master laser locked to a saturated absorption feature of the Rb D2 line, and the other two locked to the master with offsets ranging from 0 to 5 GHz with a volume 50,000 hr, which directly addresses the Navy requirements to enable LPAI-based technologies on ships. In Phase I, Intellisense will demonstrate the feasibility of CALAIS by developing a design and experimentally verifying key subsystems, and developing a roadmap to achieve the desired system lifetime of >50,000 hr. In Phase II, Intellisense plans to build and test a prototype that will meet the critical requirements and test the resistance of this prototype to shock and vibration.