Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Gyroscopes
E. A. Donley
Time and Frequency Division
National Institute of Standards and Technology
325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305
edonley@boulder.nist.gov
Abstract— Nuclear magnetic resonance gyroscopes (NMRGs)
detect rotation as a shift in the Larmor precession frequency of
nuclear spins. A review of the open literature on NMRGs is
presented, which includes an introduction to the spectroscopic
techniques that enable NMRGs and a discussion of the design
details for several specific NMRGs that have been built.
I. INTRODUCTION
1
A gyroscope measures the angle or angular rate of
rotation of the object upon which it is mounted relative to
inertial space. Nuclear magnetic resonance gyroscopes
(NMRGs) accomplish rotation detection by measuring a shift
in the Larmor precession frequency of nuclear spins in an
applied magnetic field. Large-scale NMRGs were developed
in the 1960s and 70s, with both Singer and Litton producing
optically pumped NMRGs with bias drifts lower than 0.1 °/h
[1]. Prior to this review article, several other reviews of this
early work had been published. The reviews by Karwacki and
Woodman et al. present detailed specific approaches to
NMRGs [2], [3]. The article by Kuritsky et al. provides a
review of inertial navigation that includes NMRG work
performed through 1983 [4]. The recent review by Liu et al.
presents recent developments in the field of microfabricated
gyroscopes and includes some discussion of NMRGs [5].
Here I attempt to tie together developments in NMRGs
that have occurred over the past 50 years including recent
miniaturization trends. Section II gives an introduction into
the instrumentation and measurement techniques for NMRGs.
Following that, specific examples of NMRGs are given,
including those based on mercury (section III) and on noble
gases (section IV). In section V, studies on nuclear
quadrupolar effects are presented, which cause shifts and
splittings in NMRG spectra. Section VI gives a review of the
comagnetometer approach, which has recently been used to
demonstrate a high-performance NMRG. In section VII,
developments in miniaturization are presented. Apologies are
The views, opinions, and/or findings contained in this
article/presentation are those of the author/presenter and
should not be interpreted as representing the official views or
policies, either expressed or implied, of the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency or the Department of
Defense.
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II. T
ECHNICAL BACKGROUND
A simplified version of a typical NMR gyroscope is
presented in Fig. 1. A vapor cell contains one or more active
NMR isotopes such as
129
Xe, an alkali atom such as
87
Rb, and
some buffer gas. A circularly polarized pump beam resonant
with an optical transition in the Rb atoms and oriented
parallel to an applied field B
0
spin polarizes the Rb atoms.
The Rb polarization is transferred to the Xe nuclei through
collisions, thereby creating a macroscopic spin polarization
for both species. Coherent spin precession is generated for
both species with applied AC magnetic fields (not shown)
perpendicular to B
0
. The Xe spins precess about the direction
B
0
, with a precession frequency proportional to the magnitude
of the applied field,
ω
Xe
=
γ
Xe
B
0
. The proportionality constant
is the gyromagnetic ratio,
γ
Xe
, which depends on the
properties of the nucleus and is equal to the ratio of its
nuclear magnetic dipole moment to its angular momentum.
The Rb spins precess about the total field, which is the
sum of B
0
and the field generated by the precessing Xe spins.
Figure 1. The basic elements of an NMR gyroscope. For a discussion of the
various components, see the text.