Picosecond pulsed diode ring laser gyroscope
- Rockwell International Science Center, Thousand Oaks, CA (United States)
An external ring cavity containing as its active medium a pair of InGaAsP diodes is modelocked to produce picosecond pulses. In such a laser, a small frequency difference proportional to the nonreciprocal phase shift (resulting from, e.g., the Sagnac effect) can be observed by beating together the counter propagating laser arms; the device therefore acts as a rotating sensor. In contrast to a conventional (cw) ring laser gyroscope, the pulsed gyroscope can avoid gain competition, thereby enabling the use of homogeneously broadened gain media like semiconductor diodes. Temporal separation of the pulses within the cavity also discriminates against frequency locking of the lasers. The picosecond pulsed diode ring laser gyroscope is reviewed. Both active and passive modelocking are discussed.
- OSTI ID:
- 119005
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-940142--; ISBN 0-8194-1409-3
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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