Systems and methods for an optical frequency comb stimulated brillouin scattering gyroscope with rigid optical waveguide resonator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016204571-A1
Application number	US-201514680331-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 7, 2015
Priority date	Jan 14, 2015
Publication date	Jul 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Systems and methods for an optical frequency comb stimulated Brillouin scattering gyroscope with a rigid optical waveguide resonator are provided. In one embodiment, a system comprises: a light source that produces an optical frequency comb comprising a multiple-frequency light field; a rigid optical waveguide resonator coupled to the light source, wherein a recirculating optical frequency comb produced from the optical frequency comb propagates in a first direction around the rigid optical waveguide resonator and generates within the rigid optical waveguide a SBS light field comprising at least one SBS frequency component, and wherein one or more optical frequency components of the recirculating optical frequency comb are locked on resonance peaks of the rigid optical waveguide resonator; and an optical mixer configured to produce an optical beat signal that varies as a function of a frequency difference between the stimulated Brillouin scattering light field and the recirculating optical frequency comb.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system comprising:
a light source configured to produce an optical frequency comb comprising a multiple-frequency light field; a rigid optical waveguide resonator coupled to the light source, wherein a recirculating optical frequency comb produced from the optical frequency comb propagates in a first direction around the rigid optical waveguide resonator and generates within the rigid optical waveguide a stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) light field comprising at least one SBS frequency component, and wherein one or more optical frequency components of the recirculating optical frequency comb are locked on resonance peaks of the rigid optical waveguide resonator; and an optical mixer configured to produce an optical beat signal that varies as a function of a frequency difference between the stimulated Brillouin scattering light field and the recirculating optical frequency comb.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the rigid optical waveguide resonator is fabricated on a rigid substrate.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the rigid optical waveguide resonator is a lithographically fabricated waveguide formed on the rigid substrate.

4 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the rigid optical waveguide resonator is formed on an optical grade crystal substrate.

5 . The system of claim 2 , wherein one or both of the light source and the optical mixer are formed on the rigid substrate and interconnected with the rigid optical waveguide resonator by rigid waveguides.

6 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising servo electronics configured lock the optical frequency comb to the resonance peaks of the rigid waveguide resonator based on feedback signals from processed resonator output that contains information about deviation of the plurality of component frequencies from resonance peaks in the first direction of the rigid optical waveguide resonator.

7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the feedback signal comprises information about deviation of the one or more optical frequency components of the recirculating optical frequency comb from resonance peaks in the first direction of the rigid optical waveguide resonator; and
wherein one or more frequency components of the optical frequency comb have a frequency separation that tracks free spectral range drift of the rigid optical waveguide resonator.

8 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising an optical filter configured to filter the multiple-frequency light field such that a first frequency range of the recirculating optical frequency comb does not overlap with a second frequency range of the stimulated Brillouin scattering light field.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the rigid optical waveguide resonator is coupled to the optical filter such that the rigid optical waveguide resonator receives the multiple-frequency light field after the multiple-frequency light field is filtered.

10 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the rigid optical waveguide resonator is fabricated on a rigid substrate; and
wherein at least one of the light source, the optical mixer, and the optical filter are formed on the rigid substrate and interconnected with the rigid optical waveguide resonator by rigid waveguides.

11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the optical mixer receives both the recirculating optical frequency comb and the stimulated Brillouin scattering light field from the rigid optical waveguide resonator via rigid waveguides.

12 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the optical mixer receives the optical frequency comb from the light source via a first rigid waveguide and the stimulated Brillouin scattering light field from the rigid optical waveguide resonator via a second rigid waveguide.

13 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising at least one attenuator coupled to the optical mixer, the at least one attenuator configured to attenuate at least one of the recirculating optical frequency comb and the stimulated Brillouin scattering light field prior to the optical mixer.

14 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a comb spacing control coupled between the rigid optical waveguide resonator and the light source, the comb spacing control configured to adjust the frequency separation of the multiple-frequency light field to track the free spectral range of the optical waveguide resonator.

15 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) light field is generated by fewer than all of the one or more optical frequency components of the recirculating optical frequency comb.

16 . A method for measuring rotation, the method comprising:
propagating a recirculating optical frequency comb through a rigid optical waveguide resonator in a first direction, wherein the recirculating optical frequency comb stimulates a stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) light field including at least one frequency component in a second direction counter to the first direction; mixing a portion the recirculating optical frequency comb emanating from the rigid optical waveguide resonator with the a portion of the SBS light field emanating from the rigid optical waveguide resonator to produce at least one signal that is a function of a frequency difference between the recirculating optical frequency comb and the SBS light field; and determining a rate of rotation based on the at least one signal.

17 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
controlling a light source that produces the optical frequency comb such that a plurality of frequency components of the recirculating optical frequency comb are locked to resonance peaks of the rigid optical waveguide resonator and have a frequency separation that tracks free spectral range drift of the rigid optical waveguide resonator.

18 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
filtering the multiple-frequency light field such that a first frequency range of the recirculating optical frequency comb does not overlap with a second frequency range of the stimulated Brillouin scattering light field.

19 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the rigid optical waveguide resonator is fabricated on a rigid substrate comprising an optical grade crystal.

20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein one or both of a light source that produces the optical frequency comb and an optical mixer that mixes the portion the recirculating optical frequency comb emanating from the rigid optical waveguide resonator with the portion of the SBS light field emanating from the rigid optical waveguide resonator are formed on the rigid substrate and interconnected with the rigid optical waveguide resonator by rigid waveguides.

Assignees

• Honeywell Int Inc

Inventors

• Wu Jianfeng
• Salit Mary K
• Strandjord Lee K
• Sanders Glen A
• Qiu Tiequn

Classifications

• G01C19/66

  Ring laser gyrometers · CPC title

• H01S3/302 Primary

  in an optical fibre · CPC title

• G01C19/72 Primary

  with counter-rotating light beams in a passive ring, e.g. fibre laser gyrometers · CPC title