Fast-light Enhanced Brillouin Laser Based Active Fiber Optics Sensor for Simultaneous Measurement of Rotation and Acceleration

Abstract

We have developed a conceptual design for an Active Fast Light Fiber Optic Sensor (AFLIFOS) that can perform simultaneously or separately as a gyroscope (differential mode effect) and a sensor for acceleration, strain, and other common mode effects. Two Brillouin lasers in opposite directions and separated in frequency by several free spectral ranges are used for this sensor. By coupling two auxiliary resonators to the primary fiber resonator, we produce superluminal effects for two laser modes. We develop a detailed theoretical model for optimizing the design of the AFLIFOS, and show that the enhancement factor of the sensitivity is $\sim{187}$ and $\sim{-187}$, respectively for the two Brillouin lasers under the optimized condition, when the effective change in perimeter of the primary fiber resonator is 0.1nm, corresponding to a rotation rate of 0.4 deg/sec for a ring resonator with radius 1m. It may be possible to get much higher enhancement by adjusting the parameters such as the perimeters and the coupling coefficients.