Patent ID: 7106448

Claim:
An integrated optic gyroscope, comprising: (a) a bidirectional laser source formed on a compound semiconductor substrate and providing a lasing output from each end of the bidirectional laser source; (b) a pair of optical waveguide phase modulators formed on the compound semiconductor substrate to provide a phase modulation for each lasing output from the bidirectional laser source; (c) a plurality of passive optical waveguides formed on the compound semiconductor substrate to direct each lasing output to an edge of the compound semiconductor substrate after passing through one of the optical waveguide phase modulators; (d) a passive ring resonator adapted to receive each lasing output from the edge of the compound semiconductor substrate, to propagate each lasing output around the passive ring resonator in a different direction, and to direct a portion of each lasing output out of the passive ring resonator after propagating around the passive ring resonator; and (e) a pair of waveguide photodetectors formed on the compound semiconductor substrate and optically coupled to the edge of the compound semiconductor substrate, with the waveguide photodetectors receiving the portion of each lasing output from the passive ring resonator and generating therefrom electrical output signals wherefrom a rotation of the passive ring resonator can be determined.