摘要:
The field of the invention is that of solid-state laser gyros used for the measurements of rotation speed or relative angular positions. This type of equipment is notably used for aeronautical applications. The object of the invention is to complete the optical devices necessary to control the instability of lasers by specific optical devices enabling elimination of the dead zone and of population inversion gratings exiting in the amplifying medium. An “all optical” solid-state laser is hence obtained without moveable parts, stable and without a dead zone. To this end, the laser gyro according to the invention comprises notably and optical assembly enabling a nonreciprocal optical phase-shift to be introduced between the counterpropagating modes; and control means allowing the phase-shift amplitude to be varied periodically around a mean value that is very approximately zero.
摘要:
A multioscillator ring laser gyro includes an optical ring cavity, a solid-state amplifying medium and a measurement device arranged in such a way that a first linearly polarized propagation mode and a second linearly polarized propagation mode, perpendicular to the first mode, propagate in a first direction in the cavity and in such a way that a third linearly polarized propagation mode parallel to the first mode and a fourth linearly polarized propagation mode parallel to the second mode propagate in the opposite direction. The amplifying medium is a crystal of cubic symmetry having an entry face and an exit face, the crystal being cut so that said faces are approximately perpendicular to the crystallographic direction, the various modes propagating in directions approximately perpendicular to said faces.
摘要:
A laser gyro includes a semiconductor medium and assembled discrete elements, thus offering the possibility of producing large cavities for achieving the desired precision. More precisely, the laser gyro includes an optical ring cavity and a semiconductor amplifying medium with an external cavity having a vertical structure. The semiconductor amplifying medium which is used in reflection includes a stack of plane gain regions that are mutually parallel, and the dimensions of the cavity being substantially are larger than those of the amplifying medium.
摘要:
A laser cavity optical architecture of a solid-state laser gyro measures rotational velocity or angular position and is based on a global conservation of the scale factor so that each parameter varies with temperature and avoids optical mode hops.
摘要:
The field of the invention is that of solid-state laser gyros used in particular in inertia control systems. This type of equipment is used for example for aeronautical applications. It is possible to produce a solid-state laser gyro from optically or electrically pumped semiconductor media. Currently laser gyros of the latter type are monolithic and small in size. They do not make it possible, on the one hand, to achieve the precision comparable to that of gas laser gyros and, on the other hand, to implement optical methods for eliminating frequency coupling at low rotation speeds or temperature drifts. One subject of the invention is a solid-state laser gyro comprising a semiconductor medium and consisting of assembled discrete elements, thus offering the possibility of producing large cavities for achieving the desired precision. More precisely, the laser gyro comprises an optical ring cavity and a semiconductor amplifying medium with an external cavity having a vertical structure, comprising a stack of plane gain regions that are mutually parallel, the dimensions of the cavity being substantially larger than those of the amplifying medium, said amplifying medium being used in reflection.
摘要:
The invention concerns solid-state gyrolasers used to measure rotation speeds or relative angular positions. This type of equipment is used, in particular, in aeronautical applications.The purpose of the invention is to complete the optic devices required to control the instability of lasers, using specific optic devices that eliminate the blind region.In this way, a “fully optic” solid-state laser is obtained, without moving parts, stable, and without blind regions.These devices comprise in particular reciprocal and nonreciprocal optical rotators, arranged so that two counter-propagating optical modes travel in the cavity at sufficiently different frequencies to avoid mode locking.
摘要:
A laser gyro for measuring the angular velocity or the angular position relative to a defined rotation axis includes: an optical ring cavity; a solid-state amplifying medium; and a non-reciprocal magneto-optic device; which are arranged so that four linearly polarized propagation modes can propagate within the cavity, the magneto-optic device introducing a frequency bias between the modes propagating in a first direction and the modes propagating in the opposite direction. In the device, the cavity also includes a stabilizer device for stabilizing the intensity of the four propagation modes at substantially equivalent levels, said device comprising at least one optical element made of a non-linear crystal of the frequency-doubling type.
摘要:
Solid-state gyrolaser having a device for stabilizing the intensities making it possible to maintain equilibrium of the two counter-propagating modes having at least a means for calculating a rotation measurement (Ω, IΩ) of the gyrolaser on the basis of the counter-propagating modes having a frequency difference (Δνmes) between them, by assuming that the frequency difference (Δνmes) between the two counter-propagating modes is induced only by the rotation of the cavity. The gyrolaser also includes a means for measuring the control command (Co), a means for storing a behaviour model (Mo) of a frequency bias (Δνb) induced by the device for stabilizing the intensities, as a function of the control command, a means for calculating the frequency bias (Δνb) induced by the device for stabilizing the intensities, on the basis of the value of the control command (Co) and the model (Mo), a means for calculating the bias (ΔΩb, ΔIΩb) in the rotation measurement (Ω, IΩ), induced by the frequency bias (Δνb), and a means for compensating for the bias (ΔΩb, ΔIΩb) in the rotation measurement (Ω, IΩ).
摘要:
The field of the invention is that of solid-state laser gyros used in inertial control units. However, there are certain technical difficulties in producing laser gyros of this type that are due partly to the fact that the counterpropagating waves interfere with each other in the amplifying medium. A laser gyro according to the invention comprises at least one solid-state amplifying medium and an optical ring cavity comprising first optical means for imposing a first linear polarization state common to the two counterpropagating optical waves at the entrance and exit of the zone containing the amplifying medium and second optical means for imposing, within the amplifying medium, a second linear polarization state on the first optical wave and a third linear polarization state on the second optical wave, these polarization states being perpendicular. Thus, all the drawbacks associated with interference are eliminated.
摘要:
The invention concerns solid-state gyrolasers used to measure rotation speeds or relative angular positions. This type of equipment is used, in particular, in aeronautical applications.The purpose of the invention is to complete the optic devices required to control the instability of ring-shaped solid-state lasers using specific optic devices that eliminate the blind region without adding a measurement bias. In this way, a “fully optic” solid-state laser is obtained, without moving parts, stable, and without blind region.These devices comprise in particular polarization separation optical devices, reciprocal and nonreciprocal optical rotators arranged so that four linearly polarized optical modes travel in the cavity at sufficiently different frequencies to avoid mode locking.