Abstract

Fiber-optic ring resonators have been investigated as one class of fiber-optic gyros, primarily based on the potential for reduced fiber length, increased lnearity and dynamic range, as well as reduced sensitivity to thermal transient gradients^1-4. Single mode fiber resonators have been fabricated and tested for rotation sensing applications^{1 - 3}. These devices require polarization-controlling (PC) loops⁵ to properly match incident light into one of the two resonant polarization eigenstates of the ring resonator. In order to obtain low drift performance, it has been pointed^4,6 out that tight tolerances on the PC’s must be maintained. Since the state of polarization in the fiber is sensitive to environmental factors, especially temperature, active control of the PC’s has been suggested^1,4. One attractive alternative for achieving the required polarization control is the use of high birefringence polarization maintaining fiber for the resonator loop^l,2,4, eliminating the need for polarization controllers.

© 1988 Optical Society of America