The signal distortion that is due to Fresnel reflection in open-loop fiber-optic gyroscopes was theoretically analyzed to determine the relationship between the reflection ratio and the scale factor error of the gyroscopes. The analysis showed that the in-phase component of each Fourier harmonic of the gyroscope signal deviates from the true sinusoidal function, a quadrature-phase component appears, and the π/2 rotation rates of harmonic components disagree. We evaluated the degree of scale factor degradation by defining the harmonic distortion ratio, which can be used as a measure for the reflectional quality of the gyroscopic optical system. The theory was verified by the response of an experimental gyroscope. The Fresnel reflection was eliminated by optical and electrical means, and the signal distortion of the experimental gyroscope was suppressed.

© 1997 Optical Society of America

[Optical Society of America ]

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