Polarization maintaining photonic crystal fiber IFOG

Abstract

Polarization maintaining (PM) photonic crystal fiber (PCF) and Er-doped PCF technologies are investigated for interferometer fiber optic gyroscope (IFOG) applications. A PM-PCF optimized to achieve low-loss and high polarization extinction splice-joints with conventional PM fiber pigtails of a multifunction integrated optical circuit (MIOC) was drawn and tested under different temperature conditions. The loss and polarization crosstalk properties of a fiber coil made from the PM PCF were measured and compared with conventional PM fiber. An erbium-doped PCF was designed and fabricated, with which a superfluorescent fiber source (SFS) was made and tested. The results show that an IFOG with the PM-PCF coil and the Er-doped PCF source could achieve better temperature performance. An experimental PCF-based prototype IFOG was built and tested , and preliminary results was obtained.