Diode-pumped solid-state ring laser gyroscope

US5960022A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG · DE

Inventors

• Thorsteinn Halldorsson · Munich, DE
• Nikolaus Schmitt · Heidelberg, DE
• Karin Bauer · Oberhaching, DE
• Hartmut Neumann · Hersbruck, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Nov 10, 1997
• Grant date: Sep 28, 1999
• Expiry date: Nov 10, 2017

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H01S3/105
• WIPO field: Optics
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

The invention concerns a diode-pumped solid-state ring laser gyroscope consisting of a diode-pumped solid-state laser made from a doped crystal or glass in the form of a square or cube for monoaxial or triaxial measurements; limitation and stabilization of the laser mode is achieved by precise matching of the pumping radiation to the mode volume of the ring laser. Outcoupling of the laser radiation is done by making the light tunnel through a slit to a dielectric plate which is moved by an actuator. Frequency modulation of the signal is done as required by coupling an acoustic wave into the laser medium or by precise spatial modulation of the diode excitation.