BEC Decoherence in Hybrid Atom-Optical Quantum Gyroscope

A concept of hybrid atom-optical quantum gyroscope based on ring-shaped Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) of atoms is developed. Optical probe field grants the systems sensitivity to rotation and detects the condensate response to rotation via optical interferometry. Measurement of rotation angular velocity may ideally be fulfilled without loss of atoms, but inevitably leads to degradation of BEC spatial coherence. We construct a mathematical model of this crucial phenomenon. A quantum master equation for BEC state is derived and solved analytically in the slow decoherence limit.