KVH Industries, Inc.
Integrated Modulator Structure for In-situ Power Balancing in Photonic Fiber Optic Gyroscopes

Abstract:

A light amplitude balancing system for use in a photonic integrated circuit (PIC)-based fiber optic gyroscope (FOG) may comprise one or more 2.times.2 PIC-based FOG optical circuits and a PIC-based modulator assembly. The modulator assembly may be configured to receive one or more input light signals, and to produce one or more output light signals that (i) correspond to the input light signals and (ii) are conveyed to the one or more FOG optical circuits. Each of the one or more output light signals may have an amplitude that is a modified version of an amplitude of the corresponding input signal. The one or more FOG optical circuits and the PIC-based modulator assembly may be disposed on a common PIC substrate. Alternatively, the one or more FOG optical circuits may be disposed on a first PIC substrate, and the PIC-based modulator assembly may be disposed on a second PIC substrate.