Y-Type Branch Waveguide Used in Resonant Micro-Optic Gyro

Abstract

Resonant Micro-Optic Gyro (RMOG) is a kind of optical sensors measuring angular velocity via Sagnac Effect, which yields different central resonant frequency between the clockwise (CW) and counterclockwise (CCW) light path of a ring-resonator when rotating. In this paper, Y-type branch waveguide is put forward to replace K-type coupler in RMOG to reduce the influence of splitting ratio asymmetry due to fabrication errors and temperature drift. Y-type branch waveguide based on silicon-on-silica is designed and analyzed. Simulation results show that Y-type branch waveguide performs better fabrication tolerance than K-type coupler, which reduces the nonlinear Kerr-Effect induced noise excited by power nonuniformity of the counter-propagating beams, therefore the detection sensitivity of RMOG can be improved.