Integrated optics interferometers for angular and linear measurements

The devices are based on the dependence of refractive index on electric field. The device for angular measurements consists of a number of integrated optics interferometers that are situated around a ring. There is a metal plate under the interferometers. Above the reference beam of each interferometer there is an unmoving conducting plate; above the other beam there is a moving conducting plate attached to the object undergoing rotational motion. The size of the moving conducting plate is a little more than the size of an interferometer. Each of the plates has its own constant voltage, which is supplied by a voltage source. As the metal plate rotates with the object, the signals of neighboring interferometers change in a sinusoidal way, with a phase difference of (pi) /2. The magnitude of the angle of rotation of the metal plate, and thus of the object, can be calculated using the signal from the interferometers by using an appropriate algorithm. The device for linear measurement has a similar structure.