Relative intensity noise reduction with fiber ring resonator

Abstract A method of reducing the relative intensity noise (RIN) using a fiber ring resonator to improve the angular random walk (ARW) of a fiber optic gyroscope (FOG) is demonstrated. The RIN at the proper frequency f p degrades the ARW of the FOG when the detected power reaches tens of microwatts. Adding a fiber ring resonator between the source and the interferometer periodically modulates the optical spectrum and consequently reduces the RIN at f p . The reduction in the RIN is analyzed theoretically and experimentally. An experiment demonstrated a 5.2-dB decrease in the RIN at f p , which reduces the standard deviation by 2.6-dB. The ARW was reduced from 870 to 580 μ deg/h 1∕2 , which amounts to a 1.8-dB reduction.