<title>Applications of SLDs in fiber optical gyroscopes</title>

Abstract

The performance of interferometric fiber optical gyroscopes (IFOGs) has continued to advance resulting in expanded applications for both commercial and military inertial sensors. The primary advantages of the IFOG technology for inertial systems are the high reliability and lower cost. Most IFOG designs incorporate a fiber light source, a fiber sensing coil with discrete components connected, typically, with optical fiber pigtails. Fiber light sources require several optical components and are expensive to produce as well as bulky to package. The use of superluminescent diodes (SLDs) as a light source provides a much smaller, less expensive alternative and provides more flexibility in the integration architecture. The challenge for SLD development is the achievement of high power while maintaining the spectral quality and long lifetime. Presented here are the source requirements and the performance achieved for SLD's designed for these applications.