Patent ID: 8908187

Claim:
A resonator fiber optic gyroscope (RFOG) comprising: a resonator having an optical fiber loop; a light source configured to generate a light beam; and an intensity modulation circuit coupled between the light source and the resonator, the intensity modulation circuit configured to modulate the intensity of the light beam from the light source to output an intensity modulated signal to the resonator, wherein the intensity modulation circuit is configured to produce the intensity modulated signal such that harmonics of the intensity modulated signal which overlap a primary wave of a counter-propagating light beam in the resonator have an amplitude below a predetermined threshold, wherein amplitudes below the predetermined threshold are negligible; wherein the intensity modulation circuit comprises: a modulation signal generator configured to generate a signal at a predetermined frequency; a compensation circuit configured to distort the signal output from the modulation signal generator; and an intensity modulator coupled to the compensation circuit, the intensity modulator configured to modulate the intensity of the light beam from the light source based on the distorted signal output from the compensation circuit; wherein the distortion introduced by the compensation circuit compensates for non-linearity in the intensity modulator.