Non-Hermitian ringlaser gyroscopes with enhanced Sagnac sensitivity.

Abstract

Gyroscopes are essential to many diverse applications associated with navigation, positioning and inertial sensing1. In general, most optical gyroscopes rely on the Sagnac effect-a relativistically induced phase shift that scales linearly with the rotational velocity2,3. In ringlaser gyroscopes (RLGs), this shift manifests as a resonance splitting in the emission spectrum, which can be detected as a beat frequency4. The need for ever more precise RLGs has fuelled research activities aimed at boosting the sensitivity of RLGs beyond the limits dictated by geometrical constraints, including attempts to use either dispersive or nonlinear effects5-8. Here we establish and experimentally demonstrate a method using non-Hermitian singularities, or exceptional points, to enhance the Sagnac scale factor9-13. By exploiting the increased rotational sensitivity of RLGs in the vicinity of an exceptional point, we enhance the resonance splitting by up to a factor of 20. Our results pave the way towards the next generation of ultrasensitive and compact RLGs and provide a practical approach for the development of other classes of integrated sensor.