Study of reflection error in closed-loop polarization-maintained interferometric fiber optic gyroscope

To analyze quantitatively and systematically the reflection error in optical path of closed-loop polarization-maintained (PM) fiber optical gyroscope (FOG), the optical model is established and analyzed. Based on the optical model and the principle of the coherence detection in signal processing, the source of the reflection error is disclosed from the point of wave trains, and its effect on FOG performance is analyzed in detail, including variation as the step wave on modulator and as the environment temperature. In addition, the measures are promoted to suppress the reflection error, and the simulation result demonstrates that the peak-to-peak value of the reflection error can be suppressed from about 0.8°/h to less than 6×10−3°/h through matching the length of birefringent pigtails, which is small enough to meet the requirement of FOG with high performance.