Navigation-grade resonant fiber-optic gyroscope using ultra-simple white-light multibeam interferometry

The miniaturization of the gyroscope is critical for spacecrafts, drones, wellbore surveys, etc. The resonant fiber-optic gyroscope (RFOG) is a competitive candidate due to its potential in both miniaturization and high resolution, while its actual performance is well below expectation because of laser-induced noise and complexity. Here we report the first navigation grade RFOG with a bias instability of 0.009 degrees/h and an angle random walk of 0.0093 degrees/root h. The results are realized using a fiber resonator with finesse of 63 containing 100-m long fiber. Compared with the traditional RFOGs using narrow-linewidth lasers, the key feature of the proposed RFOG is that it is driven with a broadband light source. A white-light multibeam interference method is proposed to detect the Sagnac effect, representing the simplest scheme of RFOG to date. The complexity caused by multiple feedback loops and coherent noise suppression in traditional RFOG scheme is avoided. The minimal scheme and simple modulation algorithm will also promote the on-chip waveguide gyroscope. (C) 2022 Chinese Laser Press