Experimental evidence of enhanced rotation sensing in a slow-light structure.

We report the experimental observation of enhanced rotation sensing in a slow-light structure. We demonstrate that the differential of the phase difference, introduced by rotation, between the counterpropagating waves is proportional to the group index, and thus we can obtain large rotation sensitivity in the slow-light structure with high dispersion (large group index). The results also predict the realization of highly sensitive and compact integrated rotation sensors and gyroscopes by using microwaveguides.

[1]  Vladimir S. Ilchenko,et al.  Erratum to “Optical gyroscope with whispering gallery mode optical cavities” [Opt. Commun. 233 (2004) 107–112] , 2006 .

[2]  Jacob Scheuer.  Fiber microcoil optical gyroscope , 2009 .

[3]  Robert W Boyd,et al.  Slow light, induced dispersion, enhanced nonlinearity, and optical solitons in a resonator-array waveguide. , 2002, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[4]  P. Piwnicki,et al.  Ultrahigh sensitivity of slow-light gyroscope , 2000 .

[5]  B. Steinberg.  Rotating photonic crystals: a medium for compact optical gyroscopes. , 2005, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[6]  M. S. Shahriar,et al.  Ultrahigh enhancement in absolute and relative rotation sensing using fast and slow light , 2007 .

[7]  Shayan Mookherjea.  Dispersion characteristics of coupled-resonator optical waveguides. , 2005, Optics letters.

[8]  A. Yariv.  Universal relations for coupling of optical power between microresonators and dielectric waveguides , 2000 .

[9]  Lin Zhu,et al.  Transmission and group delay of microring coupled-resonator optical waveguides. , 2006, Optics letters.

[10]  Jacob Scheuer,et al.  Sagnac effect in coupled-resonator slow-light waveguide structures. , 2005, Physical review letters.

[11]  Anshi Xu,et al.  Rotation sensing based on a slow-light resonating structure with high group dispersion. , 2007, Applied optics.

[12]  Vladimir S. Ilchenko,et al.  Optical gyroscope with whispering gallery mode optical cavities , 2004 .

[13]  Jacob Scheuer,et al.  Rotation-induced superstructure in slow-light waveguides with mode-degeneracy: optical gyroscopes with exponential sensitivity , 2007 .

[14]  Jacob B. Khurgin,et al.  Dispersion and loss limitations on the performance of optical delay lines based on coupled resonant structures , 2007 .

[15]  Anshi Xu,et al.  Optical gyroscope based on a coupled resonator with the all-optical analogous property of electromagnetically induced transparency. , 2007, Optics express.

[16]  S. Harris,et al.  Light speed reduction to 17 metres per second in an ultracold atomic gas , 1999, Nature.

[17]  Mario Martinelli,et al.  Continuously tunable 1 byte delay in coupled-resonator optical waveguides. , 2008, Optics letters.

[18]  H J W M Hoekstra,et al.  Pulse advancement and delay in an integrated-optical two-port ring-resonator circuit: direct experimental observations. , 2007, Optics letters.

[19]  F. Xia,et al.  Ultracompact optical buffers on a silicon chip , 2007 .