Bidirectional dark-soliton fiber lasers for high-sensitivity gyroscopic application

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Laser Physics
• Fiber Lasers

Background:

• Bidirectional mode-locked lasers are crucial for applications like laser sensing and optical communications.
• Domain wall solitons (DWS) offer unique properties for laser design.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a bidirectional domain wall soliton (DWS) fiber laser.
• To demonstrate its application as a fiber laser gyroscope.
• To evaluate its performance in terms of sensitivity and structural advantages.

Main Methods:

• An anomalous dispersion fiber cavity was utilized to generate bidirectional mode-locked dark pulse trains.
• The DWS laser was mounted on a rotating platform to test its gyroscopic effect.
• The beat frequency of the counter-propagating dark pulse DWS beams was measured against rotation velocity.

Main Results:

• Two mode-locked dark pulse trains were successfully generated, propagating in opposite directions.
• A linear relationship was observed between the beat frequency and the rotation velocity.
• A high rotation sensitivity of 3.31 kHz/(deg/s) was achieved, comparable to bright pulse laser gyroscopes.

Conclusions:

• The bidirectional DWS fiber laser functions effectively as a laser gyroscope.
• It offers advantages such as a simple structure, high sensitivity, and low cost compared to traditional systems.
• The DWS laser gyroscope shows significant promise for modern inertial navigation systems.