A novel method for determining and improving the quality of a quadrupolar fiber gyro coil under temperature variations

We introduce a parameter called pointing error thermal sensitivity (PETS) for quantitatively determining the quality of a quadrupolar (QAD) fiber coil under radial temperature variations. We show both analytically and experimentally that the pointing error of a fiber gyro incorporating the fiber coil is linearly proportional to the final radial thermal gradient on the coil, with PETS as the proportional constant. We further show that PETS is linearly proportional to another parameter called effective asymmetric length of the coil. By thermally inducing different radial thermal gradients on the fiber coil and measuring the corresponding pointing errors in a gyroscopic measurement setup, we can confidently determine the PETS of the fiber coil and its associated effective asymmetric length caused by imperfections in coil winding. Consequently, we are able to precisely trim the coil to achieve best thermal performance. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America