A Polarization Multiplexing Interferometric Fiber Optic Gyroscope With Faraday Effect and Shupe Effect Compensation

The degradation in the accuracy of interferometric fiber optic gyroscopes (IFOGs) in complex environments has become a significant limiting factor for their practical applications. In this article, we introduce a novel IFOG configuration based on polarization multiplexing and dual optic-fiber coils. The new configuration leverages two orthogonal polarization states within the fiber, achieving double the length of the fiber coil. This not only achieves the enhancement the IFOG’s sensitivity but also effectively compensates for and suppresses errors arising from variations in the magnetic field and temperature in the external environment. We analyzed the principle of suppression of magnetic and Shupe errors by this configuration and conducted corresponding experiments. The experimental results show that the proposed configuration achieves a remarkable 90-fold reduction in magnetic error and a 24-fold reduction in Shupe error following compensation. Moreover, owing to the strong correlation between two orthogonal polarization states, the relative intensity noise (RIN) in the proposed configuration is effectively suppressed, resulting in a fourfold reduction of the self-noise. The new configuration’s sensitivity can reach
$4.2\times 10^{-{8}}\,\,\text {rad}/\text {s}/\sqrt {\text {Hz}}$
, and the root power spectrum density (PSD) is almost flat from 0.03 to 100 Hz. This configuration provides a new option for constructing IFOGs with superior performance and robust environmental adaptability.