A vacuum-compatible cylindrical inertial rotation sensor with picoradian sensitivity

M P Ross; J van Dongen; Y Huang; H Zhou; Y Chowdhury; S K Apple; C M Mow-Lowry; A L Mitchell; N A Holland; B Lantz; E Bonilla; A Engl; A Pele; D Griffith; E Sanchez; E A Shaw; C Gettings; J Gundlach

doi:10.1063/5.0167283

A vacuum-compatible cylindrical inertial rotation sensor with picoradian sensitivity

Rev Sci Instrum. 2023 Sep 1;94(9):094503. doi: 10.1063/5.0167283.

Authors

M P Ross¹, J van Dongen^{2

3}, Y Huang¹, H Zhou¹, Y Chowdhury¹, S K Apple¹, C M Mow-Lowry^{2

3}, A L Mitchell^{2

3}, N A Holland^{2

3}, B Lantz⁴, E Bonilla⁴, A Engl⁴, A Pele⁵, D Griffith⁵, E Sanchez⁵, E A Shaw¹, C Gettings¹, J Gundlach¹

Affiliations

¹ Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.
² Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, Netherlands.
³ Dutch National Institute for Subatomic Physics, Nikhef, 1098 XG Amsterdam, Netherlands.
⁴ Stanford Univserity, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
⁵ California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.

PMID: 37737699
DOI: 10.1063/5.0167283

Abstract

We describe an inertial rotation sensor with a 30-cm cylindrical proof-mass suspended from a pair of 14 μm thick BeCu flexures. The angle between the proof-mass and support structure is measured with a pair of homodyne interferometers, which achieve a noise level of ∼5prad/Hz. The sensor is entirely made of vacuum compatible materials, and the center of mass can be adjusted remotely.