PIC: Navigation grade chip scale gyro enabled by weak value amplification

University Of Rochester, Rochester NY

Investigators

Abstract

Gyroscopes with high sensitivity and stability are essential components for navigation and motion sensing used in drones, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), and satellites, especially as an alternative Positioning and Navigation technology for situations where GPS signals are jammed or unavailable. However, state-of-the-art technology is based on optical fiber gyros that contain spools of fiber several kilometers long or mechanical gyros that have very limited dynamic range. The sensitivity and stability of a gyroscope must be fundamentally traded off between its size and weight. As drones, UAVs, and satellites become smaller and more ubiquitous, the need for ultracompact navigation grade gyroscopes will become critical. State-of-the-art miniaturized gyroscopes are compact and robust but suffer from a performance deficit that hinders their use in navigation. This program will provide the sensitivity level of bulk optical gyroscopes on a small, handheld photonic chip, potentially transforming how navigation is done today. The proposed effort will ignite the passion for science and increase retention in STEM among underrepresented populations at the high school level. The PI will work with the David T. Kearns Center for Leadership and Diversity in Arts, Sciences, and Engineering to broaden the participation of underrepresented groups through research experiences for high school students from the Rochester City School District that spark their desire for a career in STEM. Weak value amplification has proven to offer a phase sensitivity advantage in optical interferometers when comparing equal detected optical power. Weak value amplification amplifies the signal of an interferometric measurement without the cost of amplifying time correlated noise, systematic noise, and other technical noises. However, previous demonstrations of weak value amplification also require complex laboratory setups with exquisite alignment. This proposal will develop the theory that describes weak value amplification in optical gyros and their performance parameters. The theory will also model a novel technique of locking the laser to the sensing cavity while simultaneously measuring rotation. This stabilization strategy is enabled by the rejected light of the weak value scheme, which contains a negligible amount of information relating to the rotation, to separate the stabilization from the measurement on the same cavity. This theoretical background will guide the experimental side of project that will implement weak value amplification on a photonic chip with a high quality factor ring resonator. The proposed gyro will meet navigation grade performance metrics and improve over state-of-the-art by one hundred fold. The photonic structures that will be developed to implement weak value amplification, including multimode couplers, tunable higher order mode couplers, and multilevel photonics, have applications beyond the proposed gyroscope. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.