Exploring a Silicon on Insulator Based Integrated Optical Chip for Interferometric Fiber Optic Gyroscopes

We develop a Silicon on Insulator based integrated optical chip for Interferometric Fiber Optic Gyroscopes. The optical design mirrors what is being done in literature, however some differentiating factors include: the introduction of a polarization filter and the choice of waveguide technology. The polarization filter alongside the grating couplers will result in a polarization extinction ratio of >76 dB at the detector. Silicon on Insulator was chosen because advances in Silicon photonics for IFOGs may enable cheaper fabrication and all-in-one integration of signal processing electronics and optical circuitry on a single chip.