Solid state ring laser gyroscope using rare-earth gain dopants in glassy hosts

Abstract

The invention discloses a solid state ring laser gyroscope using rare-earth gain dopants in glassy hosts. The invention provides a solid state ring laser gyroscope which 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 theclosed 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.

Description

Background technique [0001] A ring laser gyroscope typically consists of a block of solid dielectric material with multiple interconnected channels arranged in a closed loop to form a resonant cavity with mirrors located at the intersection of each channel. In some embodiments, a laser gas is contained within the resonant cavity, and an electrical potential is applied to the laser gas to generate a counterpropagating laser beam in the resonant cavity. In other embodiments, a solid gain medium is added to one of the mirrors in the resonator to generate a counter-propagating laser beam without the use of laser gas. For example, several half-wavelengths of neodymium-doped silica can be used to create a laser gain medium for a resonator. Contents of the invention [0002] A solid-state ring laser gyroscope includes: a laser block, the laser block includes a resonant ring cavity with an optical closed-loop path; a plurality of reflector structures, the plurality of reflector str...

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The pump laser assembly is configured to i...

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