Combination fringe pattern and power monitoring assembly for a ring laser gyroscope.

摘要

To detect both the rotation and rotational rate of a ring laser gyroscope and the power level of the laser beams circulating within a cavity of a particular axis in the gyroscope, the present invention uses a multiple segment photodetector, in combination with appropriate circuitry. The fringe pattern information relating to the gyroscope rotation is obtained by combining 90 DEG out of phase currents from adjacent segments and the total power level of the circulating laser beams is obtained by summing algebraically the power from the different segments.