Optimizing the electronic control loop of a solid-state ring laser gyroscope

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how the limited bandwidth of control electronics affects the stability and sensitivity of a solid-state ring laser gyroscope, deriving a stability condition and confirming it experimentally.

Contribution

It introduces a stability condition for the rotation-sensing regime considering control loop bandwidth limitations, validated through experiments.

Findings

The smallest measurable rotation speed depends on the control loop cutoff frequency.

Experimental results agree with the theoretical stability condition.

Bandwidth limitations significantly influence gyroscope sensitivity.

Abstract

We study in this Letter the dynamical effects of the limited bandwidth of the control electronics in a solid-state (Nd-YAG) ring laser gyroscope. We derive a stability condition for the rotation-sensing regime in the case of a first-order control loop, showing that the smallest measurable rotation speed depends directly on the cutoff frequency value. Our experimental measurements are in good agreement with this prediction.