Photonetics

Joel Morisse

Herve Lefevre

Philippe Martin

Thierry Gaiffe

Pascal Simonpietri

A process and an optical gyroscope are provided for measuring rotation speeds (S) about N axes. The light source and the photodetector are common. Controlled modulation phase differences .delta..PHI..sub.c,i COMPRISE biasing components .delta..PHI..sub.m,i (42, 45, 46) with a common modulation period T.sub.m and common amplitude. Since each half-period T.sub.m /2 is divided into N time intervals .delta.t.sub.i, a change in the sign of the biasing component .delta..PHI..sub.m,i associated with each interferometer I.sub.i is produced at the beginning of one and only one .delta.t.sub.i time interval. Sagnac phase shifts .delta..PHI..sub.s,i are obtained by sampling a signal on the N time intervals.

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Saclay, France

Joel Morisse