A resonator fiber optic gyroscope (RFOG) (10, 11), comprising: a fiber coil that forms a resonator; a first laser configured to generate clockwise input light for propagation in the CW direction of the fiber coil; a second laser configured to generate counter-clockwise input light for propagation in the CCW direction of the fiber coil; a first phase modulator configured to modulate the CW input light with a first modulation frequency of f 1 = (n+0.5)*FSR, wherein FSR is the free spectral range of the resonator, before being coupled into the fiber coil in the CW direction, where n is zero or a positive integer, wherein a phase modulation amplitude of the first phase modulator is selected to substantially suppress an optical carrier component (f c,cw) of the CW input light before being coupled into the fiber coil; a second phase modulator configured to modulate the CCW input light with a second modulation frequency of f 2 = (m+0.5)*FSR before being coupled into the fiber coil in the CCW direction, where m is zero or a positive integer and is different from n, wherein n and m are selected to avoid overlap of major sidebands (U-1, U-2, U-3, L-1, L-2, L-3, U-11, U-12, U-13, L-11, L-32, L-13) of the CW input light and the CCW input light, wherein the phase modulation amplitude of the second phase modulator is selected to substantially suppress an optical carrier component (f c,ccw) of the CCW input light before being coupled into the fiber coil; and a common phase modulator configured to modulate the CW light coupled into the fiber coil and the CCW light coupled into the fiber coil with a common phase modulation frequency and a common phase amplitude. a fiber coil that forms a resonator; a first laser configured to generate clockwise input light for propagation in the CW direction of the fiber coil; a second laser configured to generate counter-clockwise input light for propagation in the CCW direction of the fiber coil; a first phase modulator configured to modulate the CW input light with a first modulation frequency of f 1 = (n+0.5)*FSR, wherein FSR is the free spectral range of the resonator, before being coupled into the fiber coil in the CW direction, where n is zero or a positive integer, wherein a phase modulation amplitude of the first phase modulator is selected to substantially suppress an optical carrier component (f c,cw) of the CW input light before being coupled into the fiber coil; a second phase modulator configured to modulate the CCW input light with a second modulation frequency of f 2 = (m+0.5)*FSR before being coupled into the fiber coil in the CCW direction, where m is zero or a positive integer and is different from n, wherein n and m are selected to avoid overlap of major sidebands (U-1, U-2, U-3, L-1, L-2, L-3, U-11, U-12, U-13, L-11, L-32, L-13) of the CW input light and the CCW input light, wherein the phase modulation amplitude of the second phase modulator is selected to substantially suppress an optical carrier component (f c,ccw) of the CCW input light before being coupled into the fiber coil; and a common phase modulator configured to modulate the CW light coupled into the fiber coil and the CCW light coupled into the fiber coil with a common phase modulation frequency and a common phase amplitude.