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US 8,798,405 B2Granted
Method of making a fiber optic gyroscope
AssigneeEmcore Corporation
InventorsRonald T. Logan, Jr., Ka Kha Wong
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods of attaching an optical line to a phase modulator in a fiber optic gyroscope. The methods include positioning at least one end of the optical line relative to a side of the phase modulator. The end of the optical line may have a first non-perpendicular angle and the side of the phase modulator may have a second non-perpendicular angle. The end of the optical line may be attached to the side of the phase modulator with the end of the optical line being non-parallel to the side of the phase modulator. The optical line may be an optical coil or a light path.
Claims18
A method of making a fiber optic gyroscope comprising:
- positioning a continuous optical fiber coil defining an axis in proximity to a phase modulator semiconductor device, the continuous optical fiber coil extending along a fiber centerline from a first exposed end with a planar face aligned at a first non-perpendicular angle relative to the fiber centerline to a second exposed end, wherein the continuous optical fiber is spliceless between the first exposed end and the second exposed end, wherein the phase modulator semiconductor device defines a side surface aligned at a second non-perpendicular angle relative to the fiber centerline, the first and second angles being different;
- aligning the first end of the continuous optical fiber coil with an optical waveguide in the side surface of the phase modulator semiconductor device;
- attaching the first end of the continuous optical fiber coil to the side surface of the phase modulator semiconductor device with the planar face of the first end of the continuous optical fiber coil being non-parallel to the side surface of the phase modulator semiconductor device;
- providing a non-coherent light source configured to provide a non-coherent beam of light;
- and
- optically coupling a directional coupler to the non-coherent light source and to the phase modulator semiconductor device, wherein the directional coupler is configured to direct at least a portion of the non-coherent light beam from the non-coherent light source to a power monitoring photodiode and at least a portion of the non-coherent light beam from the non-coherent light source to the phase modulator semiconductor device, wherein the directional coupler is further configured to direct at least a portion of light from the phase modulator semiconductor device to a receiving photodiode to produce an electrical signal for use in computation of a rotational rate of the continuous optical fiber coil about its axis.
3 more elements
A method of making a fiber optic gyroscope comprising:
- aligning first and second ends of a continuous optical fiber coil with optical waveguides that are exposed on a first side surface of a phase modulator semiconductor device, wherein the continuous optical fiber continuously extends from the first end to the second end and defines an axis;
- attaching the ends of the continuous optical fiber coil to the first side surface of the phase modulator semiconductor device with the ends of the continuous optical fiber coil, wherein the first and second ends define first and second planar faces, respectively, each of the first and second planar faces being non-parallel with the first side surface of the phase modulator semiconductor device;
- aligning an end of a source optical fiber with an optical waveguide that is exposed on a second side surface of the phase modulator semiconductor device, wherein the end of the source optical fiber defines a planar face;
- attaching the end of the source optical fiber to the second side surface of the phase modulator semiconductor device with the planar face of the end of the source optical fiber being non-parallel with the second side surface of the phase modulator semiconductor device;
- providing a non-coherent light source configured to provide a non-coherent beam of light;
- and
- optically coupling a directional coupler to the non-coherent light source and to the phase modulator semiconductor device, wherein the directional coupler is configured to direct at least a portion of the non-coherent light beam from the non-coherent light source to a power monitoring photodiode and at least a portion of the non-coherent light beam from the non-coherent light source to the phase modulator semiconductor device, wherein the directional coupler is further configured to direct at least a portion of non-coherent light from the phase modulator semiconductor device to a receiving photodiode to produce an electrical signal to compute a rotational rate of the continuous optical fiber coil about its axis.
4 more elements
A fiber optic gyroscope comprising:
- a non-coherent light source configured to provide a non-coherent beam of light;
- a directional coupler to the non-coherent light source for receiving the non-coherent beam of light;
- a phase modulator semiconductor device optically coupled to the directional coupler for receiving at least a portion of the non-coherent beam of light and for transmitting light thereto, wherein the phase modulator defines at least one planar side surface;
- and
- an optical fiber coil continuously extending from a first exposed end to a second exposed end along a fiber centerline and defining an axis, wherein the optical fiber coil is spliceless from the first exposed end to the second exposed end, wherein each of the first and second exposed ends defines a planar face aligned at a first non-perpendicular angle relative to the fiber centerline, wherein each of the of the first and second exposed ends of the optical fiber coil are attached to the at least one planar side surface of the phase modulator, wherein the at least one side surface is aligned at a second non-perpendicular angle relative to the fiber centerline.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.