Solid-state ring laser gyro behaving like its helium-neon counterpart at low rotation rates.
Nonlinear couplings induced by crystal diffusion and spatial inhomogeneities of the gain have been suppressed over a broad range of angular velocities in a solid-state ring laser gyro by vibrating the gain crystal at 168 kHz and 0.4 microm along the laser cavity axis. This device behaves in the same way as a typical helium-neon ring laser gyro, with a zone of frequency lock-in (or dead band) resulting from the backscattering of light on the cavity mirrors. Furthermore, it is shown that the level of angular random-walk noise in the presence of mechanical dithering depends only on the quality of the cavity mirrors, as is the case with typical helium-neon ring laser gyros.
Schwartz
Sylvain
S
Thales Research and Technology France, Campus Polytechnique, 1 Avenue Augustin Fresnel,F-91767 Palaiseau Cedex, France. sylvain.schwartz@thalesgroup.com
Gutty
François
F
Feugnet
Gilles
G
Loil
Eric
E
Pocholle
Jean-Paul
JP