Laser-Ranging Long Baseline Differential Atom Interferometers for Space

Abstract: High sensitivity differential atom interferometers are promising for precision measurements in science frontiers in space, including gravity field mapping for Earth science studies and gravitational wave detection. We propose a new configuration of twin atom interferometers connected by a laser ranging interferometer (LRI-AI) to provide precise information of the displacements between the two AI reference mirrors and a means to phase-lock the two independent interferometer lasers over long distances, thereby further enhancing the feasibility of long baseline differential atom interferometers. We show that a properly implemented LRI-AI can achieve equivalent functionality to the conventional differential atom interferometer measurement system. LRI-AI isolates the laser requirements for atom interferometers and for optical phase readout between distant locations, thus enabling optimized allocation of available laser power within a limited physical size and resource budget. A unique aspect of LRI-AI also enables extended dynamic range of differential signals and the highest possible effective data rate.