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Two kinds of multidimensional atom interferometers are demonstrated that are capable of measuring both the magnitude and direction of applied inertial forces. These interferometers, built from ultracold Bose-Einstein condensed rubidium atoms, use an original design that operates entirely within the Bloch bands of an optical lattice. Through time-dependent lattice position control, we realize Bloch oscillations in two dimensions and a vector atomic Michelson interferometer. Fits to the observed Bloch oscillations demonstrate the measurement of an applied acceleration of 2galong two axes, wheregis Earth’s gravitational acceleration. For the Michelson interferometer, we perform Bayesian inferencing from a 49-channel output by repeating experiments for two-axis accelerations and demonstrate vector parameter estimation. Accelerations can be measured from single experimental runs and do not require repeated shots to construct a fringe. The performance of our device is near the quantum limit for the interferometer size and quantum detection efficiency of the atoms. 

In this paper, we propose a paradigm for atom interferometry and demonstrate that there exists a universal set of atom optic components for inertial sensing. These components constitute gates with which we carry out quantum operations and represent input-output matter wave transformations between lattice eigenstates. Each gate is associated with a modulation pattern of the position of the optical lattice according to machine-designed protocols. In this methodology, a sensor can be reprogramed to respond to an evolving set of design priorities without modifying the hardware. We assert that such a gate set is metrologically universal, in analogy to universal gate sets for quantum computing. Experimental confirmation of the designed operation is demonstrated via imaging of the spatial evolution of a Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical lattice and by measurement of the momentum probabilities following time-of-flight expansion. The representation of several basic quantum sensing circuits is presented for the measurement of inertial forces, rotating reference frames, and gravity gradients. Published by the American Physical Society2025 

Performing interferometry in an optical lattice formed by standing waves of light offers potential advantages over its free-space equivalents since the atoms can be confined and manipulated by the optical potential. We demonstrate such an interferometer in a one-dimensional lattice and show the ability to control the atoms by imaging and reconstructing the wave function at many stages during its cycle. An acceleration signal is applied, and the resulting performance is seen to be close to the optimum possible for the time-space area enclosed according to quantum theory. Our methodology of machine design enables the sensor to be reconfigurable on the fly, and when scaled up, offers the potential to make state-of-the art inertial and gravitational sensors that will have a wide range of potential applications. Published by the American Physical Society2024