NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Collections About News Help Login
Back to Results
Atomic References for Measuring Small AccelerationsAccelerometer systems that would combine the best features of both conventional (e.g., mechanical) accelerometers and atom interferometer accelerometers (AIAs) have been proposed. These systems are intended mainly for use in scientific research aboard spacecraft but may also be useful on Earth in special military, geological, and civil-engineering applications. Conventional accelerometers can be sensitive, can have high dynamic range, and can have high frequency response, but they lack accuracy and long-term stability. AIAs have low frequency response, but they offer high sensitivity, and high accuracy for measuring small accelerations. In a system according to the proposal, a conventional accelerometer would be used to perform short-term measurements of higher-frequency components of acceleration, while an AIA would be used to provide consistent calibration of, and correction of errors in, the measurements of the conventional accelerometer in the lower-frequency range over the long term. A brief description of an AIA is prerequisite to a meaningful description of a system according to the proposal. An AIA includes a retroreflector next to one end of a cell that contains a cold cloud of atoms in an ultrahigh vacuum. The atoms in the cloud are in free fall. The retroreflector is mounted on the object, the acceleration of which is to be measured. Raman laser beams are directed through the cell from the end opposite the retroreflector, then pass back through the cell after striking the retroreflector. The Raman laser beams together with the cold atoms measure the relative acceleration, through the readout of the AIA, between the cold atoms and the retroreflector.
Document ID
20090011195
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Other - NASA Tech Brief
External Source(s)
http://www.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/5013
Authors
Maleki, Lute (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Yu, Nan (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
March 1, 2009
Publication Information
Publication: NASA Tech Briefs, March 2009
Subject Category
Man/System Technology And Life Support
Report/Patent Number
NPO-43776
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

Related Records

IDRelationTitle20090011183Collected WorksNASA Tech Briefs, March 2009
No Preview Available