Patent ID: 7324206

Claim:
A method for determination of/compensation for bias/random walk errors induced by the light source in fiber-optic Sagnac interferometers which use a modulation method for stochastically independent shifting of the operating point to the points of highest sensitivity, comprising the following steps: outputting of a reference beam from the light passing through the interferometer using a coupler, in such a way that the intensity of the reference beam is proportional to the intensity of the light injected into the fiber optics of the interferometer, but is not subject to any changes caused by modulation and/or resetting processes: production of a reference intensity signal which is proportional to the intensity of the reference beam by tapping the output signal from a photodetector to which the reference beam is applied; demodulation of the reference intensity signal using the demodulation pattern which is used in the rotation rate control loop and is used for demodulation of the rotation rate intensity signal, which is proportional to the rotational rate, using a demodulator, by which means a demodulated reference intensity signal is obtained which represents a measure of the bias/random walk errors to be determined, with the demodulation of the reference intensity signal being matched in time to the demodulation of the rotation rate intensity signal such that the signal components of the reference intensity signal and of the rotation rate intensity signal which each result from light components emitted from the light source at the same time are demodulated in an identical manner.