The Ring Laser Gyro

Abstract

In Chapter 11 we defined the ring laser gyroscope (RLG) as an active resonator optical gyro. Clifford Heer conceived the RLG in 1961 [1]; he saw that the properties of the laser, recently invented by Schawlow and Townes, could be exploited to measure rotation. Heer and Adolph Rosenthal [2] independently developed the theory, and, in 1963, Macek and Davis [3] demonstrated the first RLG, a square gyro, 1 m on a side. Scientists around the world contributed to the field during the 1970s, and Bogdanov's survey article [4] describes the results.