Solid State Gyrolaser with Controlled Optical Pumping

• Main Authors: BONNAUDET ETIENNE, ALOUINI MEHDI, GUTTY FRANCOIS, FEUGNET GILLES, SCHWARTZ SYLVAIN, POCHOLLE JEAN-PAUL
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 20.05.2010
• Subjects: GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; INDICATING PRESENCE, ABSENCE, OR DIRECTION, OF MOVEMENT; MEASURING; MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; MEASURING LINEAR OR ANGULAR SPEED, ACCELERATION, DECELERATION,OR SHOCK; NAVIGATION; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY; PHYSICS; SURVEYING; TESTING

The general field of the invention is that of gyrolasers comprising at least one ring-shaped optical cavity comprising at least three mirrors, a solid state amplifying medium pumped by a laser diode whose optical emission power is determined by a current supply source, the cavity and the amplifying medium being such that two so-called contra-rotating optical modes propagate in opposite directions to each other within the said optical cavity, the gyrolaser being a class B gyrolaser, the gyrolaser also comprising means of measuring the difference in optical frequency existing between the two optical modes. The gyrolaser comprises means of measuring the total optical power circulating in the optical cavity and first means of control of the current delivered by the supply source in such a way as to maintain the total optical power substantially constant in a narrow spectral band centred on the relaxation frequency of the laser.