Towards a fully integrated optical gyroscope using whispering gallery modes resonators
Abstract
Since the developments of lasers and the optical fibers in the 70s, the optical gyroscopes have been subject to an intensive research to improve both their resolution and stability performances. However the best optical gyroscopes currently on the market, the ring laser gyroscope and the interferometer fiber optic gyroscope are still macroscopic devices and cannot address specific applications where size and weight constraints are critical. One solution to overcome these limitations could be to use an integrated resonator as a sensitive part to build a fully Integrated Optical Resonant Gyroscope (IORG). To keep a high rotation sensitivity, which is usually degraded when downsizing this kind of optical sensors based on the Sagnac effect, the resonator has to exhibit a very high quality factor (Q): as detailed in equation (1) where the minimum rotation rate resolution for an IORG is given as a function of the resonator characteristics (Q and diameter D) and of the global system optical system characteristics (i.e. SNR and bandwidth B), the higher the Q×D product, the lower the resolution.
- Publication:
-
Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Conference Series
- Pub Date:
- November 2017
- DOI:
- 10.1117/12.2304206
- Bibcode:
- 2017SPIE10563E..3ZA