A SBS laser system comprises at least one pump laser that emits a pump beam, and an intensity modulator in communication with the pump laser. The intensity modulator modulates an intensity of the pump beam and transmits an intensity modulated beam. A resonator, in communication with the intensity modulator, is configured to receive the intensity modulated beam such that it travels in a first direction. When optical frequency of the intensity modulated beam matches resonance frequency of the resonator, a power density increases such that beyond a certain threshold power, the intensity modulated beam produces lasing of a first order Brillouin wave including a SBS wave having a SBS gain peak. The SBS wave travels in an opposite second direction in the resonator. A control unit eliminates or reduces the intensity modulation of the beam by minimizing the frequency gap between the SBS gain peak and an SBS resonance peak.

An optical rotation rate sensor. The sensor includes a laser light source for generating weak light pulses, optically connected to a photonic waveguide, optically connected to a first interference coupler that includes a first input and two first outputs, optically connected to a second interference coupler that includes two second inputs and two second outputs, optically connected to at least one first sensor waveguide for showing the Sagnac effect, optically connected to a third interference coupler that includes two third inputs and two third outputs, optically connected to two photodetectors, the photonic waveguide, the first interference coupler, the second interference coupler, the third interference coupler and the sensor waveguide being integrated on a shared substrate.

A ring laser gyroscope is provided. A light source is configured to generate light of a first wavelength. A plurality primary cavity mirrors are configured to route light of a second wavelength around a primary cavity to a readout device. One primary cavity mirror of the plurality of primary cavity mirrors includes a gain medium. The pumping mirror and the one primary cavity mirror including the gain medium is positioned and configured to reflect the light of the first wavelength back and forth in a pumping cavity through the gain medium, wherein the light of the first wavelength stimulates the gain medium to generate the light of the second wavelength that are reflected around the primary cavity to the readout device.

A ring laser gyroscope comprises an optical block that defines an optical closed loop pathway; at least one mirror structure mounted on the optical block and in communication with the closed loop pathway; at least one volume Bragg grating mounted on the optical block and in communication with the closed loop pathway; and a pump laser in communication with the volume Bragg grating, the laser operative to emit a light beam at a selected incident angle such that the beam passes through the volume Bragg grating and overlaps with the closed loop pathway. The volume Bragg grating is operative as a gain medium to increase an optical power of the beam, and a pair of counter-propagating beams is produced within the closed loop pathway from the beam. The mirror structure and the volume Bragg grating are positioned and angled to reflect the counter-propagating beams around the closed loop pathway.

Systems and methods for performing resonator fiber optic gyroscope (RFOG) resonance hopping are described herein. For example, an RFOG includes a fiber optic resonator. The RFOG also includes a plurality of laser sources that each launch a respective laser for propagation within the fiber optic resonator. Further, the RFOG includes a threshold detector that determines when the operation of at least one laser source in the plurality of laser sources exceeds a threshold associated with the operational range of an aspect of the at least one laser source. Additionally, the RFOG includes a hop control logic that adjusts the frequency of at least one laser produced by the at least one laser source one or more resonant modes of the fiber optic resonator such that the aspect of the at least one laser moves away from the threshold towards a nominal value within the operational range.

A ring laser gyroscope is provided. A light source is configured to generate light of a first wavelength. A plurality primary cavity mirrors are configured to route light of a second wavelength around a primary cavity to a readout device. One primary cavity mirror of the plurality of primary cavity mirrors includes a gain medium. The pumping mirror and the one primary cavity mirror including the gain medium is positioned and configured to reflect the light of the first wavelength back and forth in a pumping cavity through the gain medium, wherein the light of the first wavelength stimulates the gain medium to generate the light of the second wavelength that are reflected around the primary cavity to the readout device.

An iterative method for determining scattering coefficients of the cavity of a laser gyro in operation supporting two counter-propagating modes, comprises steps of: determining a set of variables dependent on characteristic physical quantities of the laser gyro, one reference variable per dependency relationship being selected from the variables; measuring values of the characteristic physical quantities of the laser gyro in operation; determining measured values of the variables; estimating, via an iterative method, estimated values of the coefficients minimising a discrepancy between the measured values of the reference variables and estimated values of the reference variables, which are estimated from the values of the coefficients and the measured values of the variables other than the reference variables; and determining estimated values of the scattering coefficients from the estimated values of the coefficients.

A gyroscope of the present invention includes a moving standing light wave generator to generate three moving standing light waves, an atomic beam source to continuously generate an atomic beam in which individual atoms are in the same state, an interference device that exerts a Sagnac effect through interaction between the atomic beam and the three moving standing light waves, and a monitor to detect angular velocity or acceleration by monitoring an atomic beam from the interference device. Each moving standing light wave satisfies an n-th order Bragg condition, where n is a positive integer of 2 or more.

A solid state ring laser gyroscope comprises a laser block including a resonant ring cavity having an optical closed loop pathway; a plurality of mirror structures mounted on the block and including respective multilayer mirrors that reflect light beams around the closed loop pathway; and a pump laser assembly in optical communication with the closed loop pathway through one of the mirror structures. One or more of the multilayer mirrors includes a rare-earth doped gain layer operative to produce bidirectional optical amplification of counter-propagating light beams in the closed loop pathway. In some embodiments, the gain layer comprises a rare-earth dopant other than neodymium that is doped into a glassy host material comprising titania, tantalum oxide, alumina, zirconia, silicate glass, phosphate glass, tellurite glass, fluorosilicate glass, or non-oxide glass. Alternatively, the gain layer can comprise a neodymium dopant that is doped into a glassy host material other than silica.

A stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) gyroscope comprises a resonator; a first laser in communication with the resonator and configured to emit a first optical signal propagating in a first direction, the first optical signal producing a first SBS signal counter-propagating in a second direction; a second laser in communication with the resonator and configured to emit a second optical signal propagating in the first direction, the second optical signal producing a second SBS signal counter-propagating in the second direction; a third laser in communication with the resonator and configured to emit a third optical signal propagating in the second direction, the third optical signal producing a third SBS signal counter-propagating in the first direction. At least one photodetector is coupled to the resonator and receives the SBS signals, which are combined in the photodetector to produce electrical signals that include rotational rate information encoded in frequencies of the electrical signals.