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US 6,088,149 AGranted
Apparatus for use in ring laser gyroscopes
AssigneeLitton Systems, Inc.
InventorsJohn P. Rahn, Leo K. Lam
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AssigneeLitton Systems, Inc.
InventorsJohn P. Rahn, Leo K. Lam
Estimating the term…
The invention is a focusing polarization rotator for use in the resonant mirror system of a ring laser gyroscope. The focusing polarization rotator accomplishes the traditional task of rotating the plane of polarization of a light beam that passes through it and at the same time performs a focusing function on the light rays. In a resonant mirror system, the device acts to constrain the transverse dimensions of light beams that follow the closed light-beam path established by the resonant mirror system thereby obviating the need for one or more curved mirrors that usually perform this function. The focusing polarization rotator is a wedge-shaped lens made from either a magneto-optic transparent material with a magnetic field within the lens or a material having different indices of refraction for left- and right-circularly-polarized light. The wedge shape of the lens greatly improves the bias stability of the RLG in which it is used.
Apparatus for use in a ring laser gyroscope comprising:
A method of rotating the plane of polarization and constraining the transverse dimensions of a light beam traversing a closed path by operations performed on the light beam in a region defined by a first surface and a second surface, the surfaces being normal to the light-beam path, the method comprising the steps:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.