Common mirror triaxial ring laser gyroscope having a single internal cathode

摘要

A compact three axis ring laser gyroscope having six laser corner mirrors which are positioned on the faces of a parallelopiped laser block, and method for making. Preferably the laser block is a cube. The laser block has a plurality of conduits therein for defining a plurality of closed laser beam-paths for guiding counterpropagating laser waves. Each laser beam-path has a gain medium therein and is formed to define a sensing axis for detection of rotations of the laser block. A single cathode is positioned inside the laser block, preferably substantially at its geometric center, and a plurality of anodes are mounted to the laser block and spaced apart from the cathode. A ion flow path is formed between each anode and the cathode such that application of a suitable electrical potential difference between the anodes and the cathode produces counterpropagating laser beams in each laser beam-path. The anodes are arranged to eliminate undesired Fresnel-Fizeau phase shifts by ensuring that each of the three ring gyros has two opposing ion flows.