A Precision Gyroscope from the Helicity of Light

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel optical gyroscope that measures rotation through polarization effects, offering potential advantages over traditional methods by reducing vibration-induced noise and enabling longer measurement times with superconducting systems.

Contribution

It introduces a new gyroscope design based on light helicity that is less sensitive to frequency-dependent noise, improving rotation measurement accuracy.

Findings

Signal is independent of light frequency.

Potential for enhanced sensitivity using superconducting cavities.

Mitigation of vibration noise in rotation sensing.

Abstract

We describe a gyroscope that measures rotation based on the effects of the rotation on the polarization of light. Rotation induces a differential phase shift in the propagation of left- and right-circularly polarized light and this phase shift can be measured in suitably designed interferometric setups. The signal in this setup is independent of the frequency of light, unlike various sources of noise such as vibrations, which cause phase shifts that depend on the frequency. Such vibrations are the practical limit on the sensitivity of conventional Sagnac-style optical interferometers that are typically used as gyroscopes. In the proposed setup, one can potentially mitigate this source of noise by simultaneously using two (or more) sources of light that have different frequencies. The signal in this setup scales with the total storage time of the light. Due to its frequency independence, it is thus most optimal to measure the signal using superconducting radio-frequency systems where the high finesse of the available cavities enables considerably longer storage times than is possible in an optical setup.