The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 04, 1981
Filed:
Dec. 18, 1978
Thomas J Hutchings, Thousand Oaks, CA (US);
Litton Systems, Inc., Beverly Hills, CA (US);
Abstract
A single mode laser gyro having two oppositely traveling laser beams is provided with mechanically dithered mirrors at its three or four reflection points. Each mirror is mounted for movement in and out as the result of the expansion and contraction of stacks of piezoelectric elements associated with each mirror. The mirrors are dithered or oscillated in and out, at the same frequency and in phase relationship with one another so that the perimeter distance for the laser cavity is held at a fixed number of wavelengths, but the laser beam translates back and forth across the faces of the mirrors. By this technique, the undesired phenomena of lock-in at low rotation rates is avoided, without the need for special optical or magnetic structures in the path of the laser beam.