Litton Systems, Inc.

Rockwell International Corporation

Gary D Babcock

Thomas J Hutchings

David C Grant, Jr

A dithered ring laser particularly adapted for use as a gyro wherein backscatter from the mirrors is minimized by servoing the mirror inward and outward positions so that the sum of the AM amplitudes of the envelopes of the counterpropagating waves is reduced to a minimum value, then further servoing the mirrors to reduce the difference between such AM amplitudes.

Ring laser

A mirror constrained to translation and whose position is controlled by a piezoelectric ceramic operating as a bimorph.

Controllable mirrors

An optical element formed of birefringent material is placed in the resonant optical beam path of a gas laser. A proof mass is fixedly attached to the birefringent element to form an integral unit therewith, this unit being contained within the same chamber as the lasing gas. Means are provided to subject the laser beam to a transverse magnetic field which effectively operates to keep the beam separated into E and O rays which are polarized in orthogonal relationship to each other. The proof mass is affixed to the birefringent element so that when such mass is subjected to an acceleration along a predetermined axis, the force arising from this acceleration will be transferred to the birefringent element, there being substantially no transfer of acceleration forces to this element along other axes. The index of refraction of the birefringent material changes in response to the acceleration input received thereby, the index of refraction change seen by each of the cross polarized beams being different. This results in a frequency difference between these two beams that is proportional to the acceleration input and is measured by a detector.

Growing community of inventors

Mission Viejo, CA, United States of America

Gary D Babcock