Near shot-noise limited performance of an open loop laser-driven interferometric fiber optic gyroscope

Seth W. Lloyd; Michel J. F. Digonnet; Shanhui Fan

doi:10.1117/12.899550

19 May 2011 Near shot-noise limited performance of an open loop laser-driven interferometric fiber optic gyroscope

Seth W. Lloyd, Michel J. F. Digonnet, Shanhui Fan

Proceedings Volume 7753, 21st International Conference on Optical Fiber Sensors; 7753A3 (2011) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.899550
Event: 21st International Conference on Optical Fibre Sensors (OFS21), 2011, Ottawa, Canada

Abstract

We report for the first time experimental evidence of near shot-noise limited performance for an open loop interferometric fiber optic gyroscope interrogated with a narrowband laser instead of a broadband source. Using a highly coherent laser source (▵f = 2.2 kHz), the measured gyroscope noise is 350 nrad/Hz for an average returning power of 20 μW, while the measured noise for the same gyro operated with a broadband source (▵λ ≈ 30 nm) was 850 nrad/√Hz. This measured noise is only ~2 dB above the calculated shot noise for this power. This result was made possible by using a very narrow linewidth, which greatly reduces the laser phase noise and thus the phase-noise-mitigated coherent backscattering. This excellent noise performance has applications for future fiber gyroscope technologies as well as other sensors utilizing a Sagnac interferometer. The bias drift of the laser-driven gyroscope was higher than anticipated but could be reduced to roughly Earth-rate using a frequency sweeping technique. In addition to improved sensitivity, the benefits of using a laser include much higher scale factor stability, lower power consumption, and lower component cost.

Citation Download Citation

Seth W. Lloyd, Michel J. F. Digonnet, and Shanhui Fan "Near shot-noise limited performance of an open loop laser-driven interferometric fiber optic gyroscope", Proc. SPIE 7753, 21st International Conference on Optical Fiber Sensors, 7753A3 (19 May 2011); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.899550

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