Oscillation regimes of a solid-state ring laser with active beat note stabilization : from a chaotic device to a ring laser gyroscope

TL;DR

This paper combines experimental and theoretical analysis of a diode-pumped Nd-YAG ring laser with active stabilization, revealing complex nonlinear dynamics and conditions for stable operation, with implications for advanced rotation sensing.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive stability analysis and experimental validation of a solid-state ring laser gyroscope with active beat note stabilization, highlighting the duality of chaotic and stable regimes.

Findings

Good agreement between theory and experiment

Identification of stability conditions for the laser

Potential for stable rotation sensing applications

Abstract

We report experimental and theoretical study of a rotating diode-pumped Nd-YAG ring laser with active beat note stabilization. Our experimental setup is described in the usual Maxwell-Bloch formalism. We analytically derive a stability condition and some frequency response characteristics for the solid-state ring laser gyroscope, illustrating the important role of mode coupling effects on the dynamics of such a device. Experimental data are presented and compared with the theory on the basis of realistic laser parameters, showing a very good agreement. Our results illustrate the duality between the very rich non linear dynamics of the diode-pumped solid-state ring laser (including chaotic behavior) and the possibility to obtain a very stable beat note, resulting in a potentially new kind of rotation sensor.