White-light-driven resonant fiber-optic gyro based on round trip filtering scheme

Area of Science:

• Photonics and Optical Engineering
• Inertial Navigation Systems

Background:

• Resonant fiber-optic gyros (RFOGs) are promising for miniaturized optical gyros but suffer from laser-induced noise and system complexity.
• Existing RFOG designs often fail to meet performance expectations due to these limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and demonstrate a novel RFOG design that mitigates parasitic noise and simplifies system architecture.
• To enhance the practical applicability and performance of RFOG technology for inertial navigation.

Main Methods:

• The proposed RFOG utilizes broadband white light instead of a narrow linewidth laser to drive the system.
• A fiber-optic ring resonator (FRR) functions as a filter, with rotation detected via round trip loss.
• Low coherence light effectively suppresses parasitic noise, improving measurement resolution.

Main Results:

• A bias instability of 0.012 °/h was experimentally demonstrated using a 100-m fiber coil.
• The novel design achieved high performance with a notably simple structure.
• Parasitic noise was effectively avoided, leading to improved measuring resolution.

Conclusions:

• The broadband white light driven RFOG offers a significant advancement over traditional laser-driven systems.
• This approach effectively addresses key limitations of RFOGs, paving the way for practical, high-performance, and low-cost optical gyros.