Hysteresis of lock-in range in a He–Ne ring laser gyroscope

Abstract

In this paper, a hysteresis of the lock-in range in a He–Ne ring laser gyroscope is theoretically analyzed. We propose a new model accounting an additional coupling of the counterpropagating waves due to their diffraction on the gratings induced in the cavity mirrors. Numerical simulations in the proposed model show the existence of broad hysteresis areas of a lock-in range. Dependence of hysteresis on the pump excess above the threshold has been studied.