The Principle of Cold Atom Interferometry and Its Potential Applications in Deep Space Exploration

Abstract

In this paper, the characteristics and the development trend of atomic gyroscope and gravimeters based on cold atom interferometer are introduced. The principle of the cold atom interferometry and related key technologies such as atom trapping and cooling, cold atom beam-splitting and reflecting, detecting are presented in detail. In the field of deep space exploration, the cold atom interferometry has two potential applications: autonomous navigation for spacecraft during flying, docking, landing phases and precision measurement of gravity during gravity assisting phase.

Keywords

cold atom interferometer / deep space exploration / autonomous navigation / high-precision gyroscope