Synchronization in micromechanical gyroscopes

Abstract

In this paper, we study the occurrence of synchronization between the two degenerate resonance modes of a micro disk resonator gyroscope. Recently, schemes involving the simultaneous actuation of the two vibration modes of the gyroscope have been implemented as a promising new method to increase their performance. However, this strategy might result in synchronization between the two modes, which would maintain frequency mode-matching but also may produce problems, such as degrading stability and sensitivity. Here, we demonstrate for the first time synchronization between the degenerate modes of a micro-gyroscope and show that synchronization dramatically reduces frequency instability at the cost of increased amplitude instability.