Non-Reciprocal Frequency Contributions from the Active Medium in a Ring Laser
Under ideal conditions, the optical path for the two counter-propagating beams in a square ring laser cavity is expected to be entirely reciprocal. This property, together with the absence of any moving parts in the gyro, makes ring lasers a very useful rotation-sensing device. For a typical aircraf...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-11-01
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| Series: | Photonics |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/10/11/1241 |
| _version_ | 1797458065488871424 |
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| author | Alexander A. Velikoseltsev Karl Ulrich Schreiber Jan Kodet Jon-Paul R. Wells |
| author_facet | Alexander A. Velikoseltsev Karl Ulrich Schreiber Jan Kodet Jon-Paul R. Wells |
| author_sort | Alexander A. Velikoseltsev |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Under ideal conditions, the optical path for the two counter-propagating beams in a square ring laser cavity is expected to be entirely reciprocal. This property, together with the absence of any moving parts in the gyro, makes ring lasers a very useful rotation-sensing device. For a typical aircraft application, a sensor stability of the order of 0.01 <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mo>°</mo></semantics></math></inline-formula>/h and a resolution of 1 ppm is required. The demands for inertial rotation sensing in space geodesy are three orders of magnitude higher. Therefore, the perturbations from the presence of the active laser gain medium inside the cavity cannot be ignored. While these perturbations can be sufficiently contained in aviation gyros due to the much lower requirements, they cause a notable bias in large ring laser gyroscopes for the observation of the instantaneous rotation rate of the Earth. In this paper, we report on an improved model for bias stability from the presence of the laser gain medium in the gyro cavity of the large ring laser “G” at the Geodetic Observatory Wettzell. Typical values between 5 and 10 ppB are obtained over several months. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T16:31:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c3b4e2ec1e094e679e34fc28c548e9f4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2304-6732 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T16:31:45Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Photonics |
| spelling | doaj.art-c3b4e2ec1e094e679e34fc28c548e9f42023-11-24T15:01:32ZengMDPI AGPhotonics2304-67322023-11-011011124110.3390/photonics10111241Non-Reciprocal Frequency Contributions from the Active Medium in a Ring LaserAlexander A. Velikoseltsev0Karl Ulrich Schreiber1Jan Kodet2Jon-Paul R. Wells3Department of Laser Measurement and Navigation Systems, Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI”, ul. Prof. Popova 5, 197376 St. Petersburg, RussiaResearch Unit Satellite Geodesy, Technical University of Munich, Arcisstr. 21, 80333 Munich, GermanyResearch Unit Satellite Geodesy, Technical University of Munich, Arcisstr. 21, 80333 Munich, GermanySchool of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University of Canterbury, P.O. Box 4800, Christchurch 8140, New ZealandUnder ideal conditions, the optical path for the two counter-propagating beams in a square ring laser cavity is expected to be entirely reciprocal. This property, together with the absence of any moving parts in the gyro, makes ring lasers a very useful rotation-sensing device. For a typical aircraft application, a sensor stability of the order of 0.01 <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mo>°</mo></semantics></math></inline-formula>/h and a resolution of 1 ppm is required. The demands for inertial rotation sensing in space geodesy are three orders of magnitude higher. Therefore, the perturbations from the presence of the active laser gain medium inside the cavity cannot be ignored. While these perturbations can be sufficiently contained in aviation gyros due to the much lower requirements, they cause a notable bias in large ring laser gyroscopes for the observation of the instantaneous rotation rate of the Earth. In this paper, we report on an improved model for bias stability from the presence of the laser gain medium in the gyro cavity of the large ring laser “G” at the Geodetic Observatory Wettzell. Typical values between 5 and 10 ppB are obtained over several months.https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/10/11/1241inertial rotation sensingring laserEarth rotationlaser gain medium |
| spellingShingle | Alexander A. Velikoseltsev Karl Ulrich Schreiber Jan Kodet Jon-Paul R. Wells Non-Reciprocal Frequency Contributions from the Active Medium in a Ring Laser Photonics inertial rotation sensing ring laser Earth rotation laser gain medium |
| title | Non-Reciprocal Frequency Contributions from the Active Medium in a Ring Laser |
| title_full | Non-Reciprocal Frequency Contributions from the Active Medium in a Ring Laser |
| title_fullStr | Non-Reciprocal Frequency Contributions from the Active Medium in a Ring Laser |
| title_full_unstemmed | Non-Reciprocal Frequency Contributions from the Active Medium in a Ring Laser |
| title_short | Non-Reciprocal Frequency Contributions from the Active Medium in a Ring Laser |
| title_sort | non reciprocal frequency contributions from the active medium in a ring laser |
| topic | inertial rotation sensing ring laser Earth rotation laser gain medium |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/10/11/1241 |
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