An Optically Pumped Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Gyroscope

A model of a nuclear gyroscope has been constructed and operated which obtains its space reference information from observations of the dynamic behavior of atomic nuclei. The instrumentation results from the first practical application of nuclear magnetic resonance techniques to the problem of establishing reference with respect to inertial space. By means of simultaneous observation of signals from two different kinds of nuclei in the same magnetic field it has been possible to obtain a device which measures the angle of rotation about the direction of the magnetic field, without explicit knowledge of the magnitude or stability of the magnetic field. The output corresponds to that of a single degree of freedom integrating gyroscope.