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:
Jul. 31, 1990
Filed:
Dec. 05, 1988
Ian C McMichael, Port Hueneme, CA (US);
Rockwell International Corporation, El Segundo, CA (US);
Abstract
An optical fiber rotation sensor includes a source of coherent light and a first polarizing beam splitter for transmitting a first component of the coherent light having a first polarization direction and reflecting a second component of the coherent light having a second polarization direction orthogonal to the first polarization direction. A coiled multimode optical fiber is coupled to the first beam splitter with the first and second components propagating in the fiber in opposite directions. A polarizer transmits a linearly polarized third component containing equal contributions from the first and second components. A half-wave plate rotates the polarization of the third component by 45.degree.. A self-pumped phase conjugating element reflects a phase-conjugated fourth component such that the fourth component retraverses the half-wave plate and the polarizer, then is divided by the first polarizing beam splitter into fifth and sixth components propagating in the fiber in opposite directions. A second polarizing beam splitter transmits a seventh component having the first polarization direction and reflects an eighth component having the second polarization direction. A first detector measures the power of the seventh component, while a second detector measures the power of the eighth component, the difference being related to the angular motion of the rotation sensor.