SERF原子耦合磁强计抽运光功率误差分析

Analyzing power errors in the optical pumping system of atomic spin comagnetometers

  • 摘要: 基于无自旋交换弛豫(Spin exchange relaxation-free, SERF)的原子自旋耦合磁强计同时具有敏感角速率和抑制环境磁场扰动的能力,是一种很有前途的长期导航应用工具. 抽运光功率误差从标度因数和零偏稳定性两个方面限制了SERF耦合磁强计的长期稳定性,目前针对SERF惯性测量的抽运光误差分析均为分析标度因数误差,缺乏对零偏稳定性的分析. 为了分析抽运光功率对系统的零偏稳定性影响,本文基于泰勒展开,将K–Rb–21Ne耦合磁强计动力学系统由非线性系统简化为线性时不变系统,并基于状态空间方法推导了抽运光功率频率响应模型,最后在SERF耦合磁强计上对该模型进行了实验验证. 理论和实验结果表明,耦合磁强计的磁光非正交将在光功率传递函数中引入微分环节,导致在耦合磁强计工作带宽里,耦合磁强计的输出信号与抽运光功率近似成比例环节. 本文为分析SERF耦合磁强计中抽运光功率波动引起的惯性测量误差提供了精确的模型,为后续进行抽运光功率抑制提供了理论支持.

     

    Abstract: The spin exchange relaxation-free (SERF) atomic comagnetometer is a highly sensitive device designed to measure rotation rates with extreme precision. The ability of the proposed method to suppress disturbances from external magnetic fields makes it ideal for various applications, particularly in long-term navigation systems where accuracy and stability are paramount. Beyond navigation, SERF comagnetometers are valuable tools for geophysics and geological exploration, offering reliable tools for high-precision measurements. They also play a crucial role in fundamental physics research, including testing Lorentz symmetry and charge–parity–time (CPT) symmetry, which are essential for understanding potential deviations from standard physical theories. A significant challenge in the SERF comagnetometers performance is power errors in optical pumping systems, which affect two critical operational aspects: scale factor and zero-bias stability. The scale factor determines the relationship between the input signal and the comagnetometer output, whereas zero-bias stability refers to the system’s long-term stability in the absence of an input signal. Although previous research has focused primarily on how power errors affect the scale factor, their effect on zero-bias stability remains underexplored, yet it is crucial for applications that require sustained precision. To address this gap, this study simplified the nonlinear dynamics of the K–Rb–21Ne SERF comagnetometer into a linear time-invariant system using Taylor expansion. This simplification helps analyze the system response to power errors. The study then develops a frequency response model of the optical pumping system’s power utilizing the state space method to predict how power fluctuations affect the system output. This model is an important step toward understanding how power errors propagate within a comagnetometer. An experiment was conducted to validate the derived frequency response model, where a sinusoidal wave with a peak power of 2 milliwatts was superimposed on a base pumping power of 35 milliwatts. This setup was designed to simulate real-world fluctuations in the pumping power that may occur during the comagnetometer operation. The amplitude–frequency and phase–frequency responses of the SERF comagnetometer’s output were recorded and compared with the theoretical predictions. The experimental results aligned well with the theoretical model, demonstrating the model’s accuracy in predicting the system’s response to power errors. From the amplitude–frequency response, it was found that at very low frequencies of the optical pumping power error, the output of the SERF comagnetometer is directly proportional to the changes in the pumping light power. This implies that slow drifts or fluctuations in pumping power can directly affect the long-term stability of the comagnetometer, which is critical for applications requiring minimal drift over time. However, when the power error frequency is lower than the electron Larmor frequency, the response amplitude decreases because of the slower response time of the noble gas atoms, which partially suppresses the impact of the power error. Nevertheless, this suppression is not sufficient to eliminate the power error’s influence. The study concludes that the magneto-optical nonorthogonality of the comagnetometer introduces a differential component into the power transfer function. As a result, within the device’s operational bandwidth, the output signal is approximately proportional to the pumping power. This finding reveals that fluctuations in optical pumping power can significantly affect the system’s measurement accuracy and stability, particularly over long periods.

     

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