Multi-loop and Multi-axis Operation of an Optically Guided Atom Interferometer

Atom interferometers are poised to revolutionize inertial sensing and offers great precision for the tests of fundamental physics. Matter-waves can be held or manipulated for much longer times in a waveguide without increasing the size of the experiment. We report on the experimental realization of a large-area guided atom interferometer in an optical waveguide for rotation sensing. The sensitivity to rotation is directly proportional to the physical area enclosed by the atomic wave-packets. A larger loop area can either be achieved with a bigger single loop or letting the atoms go through each other multiple times before they are overlapped again, referred to as a multi-loop interferometer. A multi-loop configuration is desirable since the experiment volume can be kept small. Here, we present a three-loop interferometer with a total interrogation time of up to 367 ms and 8.6 sq. mm enclosed area. We show high contrast interference fringes for up to five Sagnac orbits in a smaller interferometer loop of total area 0.13 sq. mm. A unique feature of our scheme is that by moving a horizontally oriented waveguide in different planes, it is easily possible to sense rotation rates about multiple arbitrary axes. We describe interferometers with enclosed area in the horizontal and vertical plane and show similar interferometer contrast for the two cases. We will present our investigation of noise sources that degrade the interferometer performance.