Passive optical gyroscope with double homodyne readout.

Area of Science:

• * Optical Physics
• * Inertial Sensing

Background:

• * Traditional gyroscopes often require complex modulation electronics and frequency counters.
• * Developing simpler, more stable inertial sensors is crucial for various applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To present a novel passive, resonant, single-frequency gyroscope design.
• * To demonstrate a readout scheme utilizing polarization modes of an optical cavity.
• * To achieve high bias stability and sensitivity without modulation electronics.

Main Methods:

• * Utilized two copropagating laser beams with orthogonal polarizations within an optical cavity.
• * Extracted both cavity length and rotation signals from the polarization mode phase shifts.
• * Applied the technique to a passive free-space gyroscope with a cavity area of 400 cm² and finesse of 10⁴.

Main Results:

• * Achieved a bias stability of 0.03°/h.
• * Demonstrated a sensitivity of 5×10⁻⁸ rad/s/√Hz above 1 Hz.
• * The design requires no modulation electronics or frequency counters.

Conclusions:

• * The presented passive resonant gyroscope offers a simplified and effective approach to rotation sensing.
• * The polarization mode readout scheme is versatile and applicable to various optical cavity types.
• * This design represents a significant advancement in passive optical gyroscope technology.