Optically dithered atomic gyro-compass

An optically dithered atomic inertial sensor, the inertial sensor comprising:

• a vacuum chamber containing an atom cloud of laser cooled alkali atoms, wherein the alkali atoms are free to fall under the influence of gravity;
• a first set of laser sources configured to apply a first set of laser beams into the atom cloud along a first axis;
• a second set of laser sources configured to apply a second set of laser beams into the atom cloud along a second axis;
• wherein the first set of laser beams and the second set of laser beams apply a series of coherent laser pulses into the atom cloud that separate a quantum-mechanical wave function of the alkali atoms along trajectories that define a sensing plane that is sensitive to rotation about a sensing axis oriented orthogonal to the sensing plane;
• and
• wherein the first set of laser sources and the second set of laser sources apply a dithering motion to the sensing axis by modulating a relative magnitude of the first set of laser beams with respect to the second set of laser beams.