Photonic technologies for angular velocity sensing

Photonics for angular rate sensing is a well-established research field having very important industrial applications, especially in the field of strapdown inertial navigation: Recent advances in this research field are reviewed: Results obtained in the past years in the development of the ring laser gyroscope and the fiber optic gyroscope are presented. The role of integrated optics and photonic integrated circuit technology in the enhancement of gyroscope performance and compactness is broadly discussed. Architectures of new slow-light integrated angular rate sensors are described. Finally, photonic gyroscopes are compared with other solid-state gyros, showing their strengths and weaknesses. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America