Acousto-optical lock-in suppression for ring laser gyros: transmission device

Abstract

A numerical algorithm to evaluate acousto-optical nonreciprocity in multilayers was elaborated. Multilayer examples were designed to serve as transmission devices for the suppression of ring laser lock-in. The bias achieved turned out to be sufficient for typical HeNe-based ring laser gyros and surpassed the values reported for magneto-optical solutions. In addition, an acoustic dithering concept was developed to allow for an alternating bias and to reduce the power requirements of the device. A great choice of alternative acousto-optical materials makes the solutions equally suitable for integrated-optics gyros.