Abstract

The main factors that limit the performance of ring laser gyroscopes include random walk, quantization noise, and bias stability. The first two factors determine the alignment time for navigation systems, and the bias stability error can result in long-term accuracy. We show that a phase wrapping/unwrapping algorithm, which has been widely used in interferometry fields, can be utilized to remove lock-in and quantization errors by implementing a zero-lock-in ring laser gyroscope. Furthermore, the performance of the ring laser gyroscope with no mechanical dither is described, and mirror dithering, instead of mechanical dithering, is proposed.

© 2021 Optical Society of America

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