A semiconductor ring laser: study of its characteristics as a rotation sensor

A semiconductor ring laser (SRL) with a radiation wavelength of 1540 nm and a fibre ring cavity is developed and studied in several main lasing regimes. An SRL design based on a semiconductor optical travelling-wave amplifier and a ring cavity, composed of a single-mode polarisation-maintaining fibre, is considered. The SRL is studied in the regime of a rotation speed sensor, in which the frequency shift of counterpropagating waves in the SRL is proportional to its rotation speed. The minimum rotation speed that can be detected using the SRL under consideration depends on the cavity length; in our experiment it turned to be 1deg s^-1. The changes in the threshold current, emission spectrum, and fundamental radiation wavelength upon closing and opening the SRL ring cavity and with a change in its radius are also investigated.