Resonant microphotonic gyroscope

It has been known for four decades that high finesse millimeter-scale optical cavities can produce high-performance, compact optical gyroscopes. Yet, a practical implementation of such a device has been hindered by multiple technical challenges, including Rayleigh scattering and optical nonlinearity of the cavity material. In this Letter we report on the implementation of an integrated passive gyroscope using a monolithic cavity characterized by 7 mm diameter, finesse of 105, and Rayleigh backscattering less than 10 ppm. The device is characterized with quantum noise limited angle random walk of 0.02 deg /h(1/2), and bias drift of 3 deg /h, corresponding to detection of rotation-originated optical path change of 1.3 x 10(-16) cm. (c) 2017 Optical Society of America