|Número de publicación||US4525843 A|
|Tipo de publicación||Concesión|
|Número de solicitud||US 06/373,188|
|Fecha de publicación||25 Jun 1985|
|Fecha de presentación||29 Abr 1982|
|Fecha de prioridad||29 Abr 1982|
|Número de publicación||06373188, 373188, US 4525843 A, US 4525843A, US-A-4525843, US4525843 A, US4525843A|
|Cesionario original||The United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Navy|
|Exportar cita||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Citas de patentes (3), Otras citas (4), Citada por (20), Clasificaciones (13), Eventos legales (5)|
|Enlaces externos: USPTO, Cesión de USPTO, Espacenet|
If a ring laser is rotated, the cavity round trip time becomes different for the two oppositely traveling waves (ODTW). This implies the two oppositely traveling waves have to assume different frequencies. If portions of each of the ODTW are allowed to exit the cavity and are mixed, a beat frequency can be detected that is proportional to the applied rotation rate. This is the ideal laser gyro. In practice, however, there is a coupling of the ORTW due to backscattering of one of the ODTW into the other. At low rotation rates, this coupling causes the ODTW to assume the same frequency and the beat frequency disappears. This frequency synchronization of the ODTW is termed lock-in.
A good ring laser for gyro application should not only have a minimal coupling between counterpropagating waves but also have a stable "standing wave" mode of operation when at rest. Homogeneously broadened gain media such as in solid state and dye lasers have therefore been ruled out for gyro operation.
D. Kuhlke and R. Horak, Opt. Quant. Elect. II, 485 (1979) showed for instance that, in the case of cw dye lasers with weak backscattering coupling, there is generally a strong imbalance between the counterpropagating amplitudes. The laser operation even alternates between the two modes when the backscattering coupling exceeds a certain threshold.
The present invention is directed to an improved ring laser gyro wherein it is possible to use homogeneously broadened lasers such as a solid state or dye laser and provide a substantial reduction in lock-in frequency. This is done by the incorporation of a wavefront conjugating coupling element between the counter wave propagations of a ring laser. Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a means of reducing the lock-in threshold of a ring laser gyro.
Another object of the invention is to provide a means of reducing the lock-in threshold of a ring laser gyro by introducing wavefront conjugating therein.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a ring laser gyro using two coupled cavities to create the wavefront conjugation.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a ring laser gyro using an external laser, and four wave mixing in a resonant medium to create the wavefront conjugation.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a ring laser gyro using an external laser, and four wave mixing in a turning mirror to create the wavefront conjugation.
FIG. 4 is an integrated optics modification of the embodiment of FIG. 3.
Referring now to the drawings wherein there is shown in FIG. 1 a typical ring laser, in simplified fashion, as mirrors 10, 12, and 14 and laser gain medium 16. As shown, gain medium 16 has two coupled cavities: one short linear cavity bounding the gain medium, and the ring cavity. Wavefront conjugation arises from the mixing of the two pump beams Ip1 and Ip2 (forming standing waves) with the counterpropagating waves of the ring cavity in the gain medium.
In FIG. 2 an external laser source 20 is provided and four wave mixing in the resonant medium 22 provides the wavefront conjugation. Resonant medium 22 may be a metal vapor such as mercury or in a crystal such as LiTaO3 and CdTe.
In FIG. 3 an external laser is utilized with the four wave mixing being done with a turning mirror 30. The embodiment of FIG. 4 shows how the ring gyro error is detected in an integrated optics system.
In all of the above described FIGS. the embodiments all rely on the incorporation of a wavefront conjugating coupling element between the counterpropagating waves. A discussion of the theory as to how and why the insertion of a conjugating coupling element between the counterpropagating waves will reduce lock-in frequency is given in an article entitled "Influence of Wavefront Conjugated Coupling on the Operation of a Laser Gyro", by Jean-Claude Diels and Ian C. McMichael published in Optics Letters, Vol. 6, No. 5, May 1981, pp 219.
Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.
|Patente citada||Fecha de presentación||Fecha de publicación||Solicitante||Título|
|US4233571 *||27 Sep 1978||11 Nov 1980||Hughes Aircraft Company||Laser having a nonlinear phase conjugating reflector|
|US4247831 *||29 Nov 1978||27 Ene 1981||The Secretary Of State For Defence In Her Britannic Majesty's Government Of The United Kingdom Of Great Britain And Northern Ireland||Ring lasers|
|US4429393 *||12 Jun 1981||31 Ene 1984||Hughes Aircraft Company||Double phase-conjugate ring resonator|
|1||Diels et al.; "Influence of Wave-Front-Conjugated Coupling on the Operation of a Laser Gyro"; Opt. Lett., vol. 6, No. 5, May 1981.|
|2||*||Diels et al.; Influence of Wave Front Conjugated Coupling on the Operation of a Laser Gyro ; Opt. Lett., vol. 6, No. 5, May 1981.|
|3||Kaptam et al., "Enhancement of the Sagnac Effect due to Nonlinearly Inducedonreciprocity"; Opt. Lett., vol. 6, No. 12, Dec. 1981.|
|4||*||Kaptam et al., Enhancement of the Sagnac Effect due to Nonlinearly Induced Nonreciprocity ; Opt. Lett., vol. 6, No. 12, Dec. 1981.|
|Patente citante||Fecha de presentación||Fecha de publicación||Solicitante||Título|
|US4659223 *||1 Nov 1984||21 Abr 1987||Thomson-Csf||Photorefractive crystal interferometric device for measuring an angular rotational speed|
|US4739507 *||15 Ago 1986||19 Abr 1988||Board Of Trustees, Stanford University||Diode end pumped laser and harmonic generator using same|
|US5004341 *||26 Sep 1988||2 Abr 1991||Quantel, S.A.||Active optical gyrometer employing a phase conjugation|
|US5052815 *||13 Abr 1990||1 Oct 1991||Coherent, Inc.||Single frequency ring laser with two reflecting surfaces|
|US5121402 *||28 Sep 1990||9 Jun 1992||The United State Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Navy||Multiple element ring laser|
|US5363192 *||28 Jun 1991||8 Nov 1994||Honeywell Inc.||Mode-locked active gyro solid state lasers|
|US5367528 *||8 May 1992||22 Nov 1994||Honeywell Inc.||Motion induced elimination of dead band in a short pulse laser gyro|
|US5469460 *||9 Sep 1994||21 Nov 1995||U.S. Philips Corporation||Ring laser|
|US5563968 *||2 Ago 1994||8 Oct 1996||U.S. Philips Corporation||Multimode imaging component and ring laser provided with a multimode imaging component|
|US5640405 *||1 Feb 1996||17 Jun 1997||Lighthouse Electronics Corporation||Multi quasi phase matched interactions in a non-linear crystal|
|US5768302 *||20 May 1997||16 Jun 1998||Lightwave Electronics Corporation||Multi quasi phase matched interactions in a non-linear crystal and method using same|
|US6650682||27 Abr 2000||18 Nov 2003||University Of New Mexico||Bi-directional short pulse ring laser|
|US7589841 *||17 Ago 2007||15 Sep 2009||Thales||Solid-state laser gyro with a mechanically activated gain medium|
|US8576403||26 Oct 2009||5 Nov 2013||Thales||Laser gyro having a solid-state amplifying medium and an optical ring cavity|
|US20080043225 *||17 Ago 2007||21 Feb 2008||Thales||Solid-state laser gyro with a mechanically activated gain medium|
|US20110235047 *||26 Oct 2009||29 Sep 2011||Thales||Laser Gyro Having a Solid-State Amplifying Medium and an Optical Ring Cavity|
|CN102177412B||26 Oct 2009||28 May 2014||塔莱斯公司||Laser gyro having a solid-state amplifying medium and an optical ring cavity|
|WO1990004867A1 *||18 Oct 1989||3 May 1990||Amoco Corporation||Optical feedback control in the frequency conversion of laser diode radiation|
|WO1995007562A1 *||7 Sep 1994||16 Mar 1995||Philips Electronics N.V.||Ring laser|
|WO2010049372A1 *||26 Oct 2009||6 May 2010||Thales||Laser gyro having a solid-state amplifying medium and an optical ring cavity|
|Clasificación de EE.UU.||372/94, 372/21, 372/97, 356/472, 356/461, 356/459, 372/64|
|Clasificación internacional||G01C19/66, H01S3/083|
|Clasificación cooperativa||G01C19/66, H01S3/083|
|Clasificación europea||G01C19/66, H01S3/083|
|9 Oct 1984||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AS REPRESENTED BY THE SEC
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST. SUBJECT TO LICENSE RECITED.;ASSIGNOR:DIELS, JEAN-CLAUDE;REEL/FRAME:004308/0476
Effective date: 19840830
|11 Jul 1988||FPAY||Fee payment|
Year of fee payment: 4
|26 Ene 1993||REMI||Maintenance fee reminder mailed|
|27 Jun 1993||LAPS||Lapse for failure to pay maintenance fees|
|14 Sep 1993||FP||Expired due to failure to pay maintenance fee|
Effective date: 19930627