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US 5,317,381 AGranted
Pneumatically dithered ring laser gyroscope
AssigneeAllied-Signal Inc.
InventorThomas J. Lavin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A pneumatically dithered ring laser gyroscope features providing an oscillatory motion directly to a segment of the excited gas which serves as the laser photon source. Alternately switching ionizing potential between two cathodes in appropriately designed cavities establishes desired oscillatory gas velocities to effect emitted frequencies within the gyro, thereby permitting the detection of rotational rates below the "lock-in" rate of the undithered gyro.
Claims8
A ring laser gyro, comprising:
- an envelope for an optical resonant cavity, said envelope containing an active gas medium;
- electrically energizable electrode means for establishing an electrical discharge in the active gas medium to excite a pair of light beams conunterpropagating in an optical resonant cavity, the counterpropagating light beams tending to exhibit mode locking effects;
- the electrically energizable means including a first anode, a second anode, a first cathode in cooperative relation with the first anode and a second cathode in cooperative relation with the second anode, means for exciting the first and second anodes, and means for exciting the first and second cathodes;
- the first and second anodes and the first and second cathodes being excited by their respective exciting means so that during alternate halves of a synchronous cycle the effectivity of one of said first and second cathodes is switched, whereby the active gas medium plasma path between one of the first and second anodes and the cathode in cooperative relation therewith is different than the plasma path between the other of the first and second anodes and the cathode in cooperative relation therewith;
- pneumatic means for synchronously inducing an oscillatory flow of the active gas medium in the optical resonant cavity for reducing the mode locking effects;
- and
- means for generating an output signal for said gyro by measuring the difference in frequency of the counterpropagating light beams.
4 more elements
A ring laser gyro, comprising:
- a base having a resonant cavity therein, with said cavity filled with an active gas medium;
- electrically energizable electrode means for establishing an electrical discharge in said active gas medium for exciting a pair of light beams counterpropagating in said optical resonant cavity, wherein said light beams tend to exhibit mode locking effects and wherein said electrode means defines a gain section of the optical cavity;
- means for generating an output signal for said gyro by measuring a difference in the frequencies of said light beams;
- pneumatic means for synchronously inducing an oscillatory flow of the active gas medium along said gain section of the optical cavity whereby the mode locking effects are reduced;
- and
- said pneumatic means including the electrically energizable electrode means arranged with a first cavity having a first pneumatic volume and with a second cavity having a second pneumatic volume, and the first and second pneumatic volumes being mutually coupled by first and second portions of the gain section of the optical cavity, and in which first and second portions pneumatic energy is exchanged to provide a pneumatically resonant circuit.
3 more elements
A ring laser gyro, comprising:
- an envelope for an optical resonant cavity said envelope containing an active gas medium;
- electrically energizable electrode means for establishing an electrical discharge in the active gas medium to excite a pair of light beams counterpropagating in the optical resonant cavity, the counterpropagating light beams exhibiting mode locking effects;
- pneumatic means for synchronously inducing an oscillatory flow of the active gas medium in the optical resonant cavity and including a first cavity having a first pneumatic volume and a second cavity having a second pneumatic volume arranged with the electrode means, and the first and second pneumatic volumes being mutually coupled by first and second portions of the envelope containing the active gas medium, and in which first and second envelope portions pneumatic energy is exchanged to provide a pneumatically resonant circuit for reducing the mode locking effects;
- and
- means for generating an output signal for said gyro by measuring the frequency of the counterpropagating light beams.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.