Gyroscopes may cease spinning

Laser gyroscopes have advantages compared to mechanical gyroscopes. Thus, they are more rugged and reliable, and, therefore, offer lower life-cycle costs. They are not yet more accurate than high-quality mechanical systems, but they have excellent development potential. Problems which can arise in the case of the spinning-rotor systems are related to their sensitivity to gravitational fields in the increasingly high-g environment of modern military aircraft. Optically based systems, on the other hand, have, in principle, no gravitational sensitivity and are in addition highly linear over a large dynamic range. The principles of operation of ring laser gyros (RLG) are discussed, taking into account the utilization of the Sagnac effect. Attention is given to the approaches found to overcome a number of engineering difficulties which arose in connection with the construction of RLG, techniques for limiting laser beam competition, aspects of geometry, and the current state of the art.