ANALYSIS AND OPTIMIZATION OF ELECTRODES FOR IMPROVING THE PERFORMANCE OF RING LASER GYRO

A. Ramchander Rao, G.Laxminarayana, M.K.Gupta, I.M.Chhabra, C. Vishnuvardhan Reddy

Abstract: Performance of Ring Laser Gyros (RLGs) solely depends upon the stability of scale factor. Variation in scale factor is directly related to the changes in the path length of the gyros. Any thermal and mechanical gradients are mainly responsible for variation in path length. In the case of prism based RLGs, electrodes are utilized for RF discharge to excite the gain medium (He-Ne Laser) as well as for sustenance of laser. Due to the near proximity of the prism with respect to discharge, it gets heated up. Due to heating of prisms, the refractive index of the material of the prism also changes. This change in refractive index in turn affects the stability of the scale factor. In the present work experiment has been carried out to study and optimize the electrode length for achieving the desired output power and vice a versa to improve the performance of Ring Laser Gyros.

Keywords: RLG, Scale factor, Path length, RF discharge, Self heating and Refractive Index

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2015.0405021