Vol. 26, No.

19 | 17 Sep 2018 | OPTICS EXPRESS 25060

Novel on chip rotation detection based on the

acousto-optic effect in surface acoustic wave
gyroscopes
MOHAMED MAHMOUD,* ASHRAF MAHMOUD, LUTONG CAI, MSI KHAN,
TAMAL MUKHERJEE, JAMES BAIN, AND GIANLUCA PIAZZA
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
15213, USA
*[email protected]

Abstract: An Acousto-Optic Gyroscope (AOG) consisting of a photonic integrated device

embedded into two inherently matched piezoelectric surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators
sharing the same acoustic cavity is presented. This constitutes the first demonstration of a
micromachined strain-based optomechanical gyroscope that uses the effective index of the
optical waveguide due to the acousto-optic effect rather than conventional displacement
sensing. The theoretical analysis comparing various photonic phase sensing techniques is
presented and verified experimentally for the cases based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer,
as well as a racetrack resonator. This first prototype integrates acoustic and photonic
components on the same lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) substrate and constitutes the
first proof of concept demonstration of the AOG. This approach enables the development of a
new class of micromachined gyroscopes that combines the advantages of both conventional
microscale vibrating gyroscopes and optical gyroscopes.
© 2018 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement

1. Introduction
Existing gyroscopes for inertial navigation systems are based on either bulky mechanical
implementations [1,2] or large volume and high power Optical Gyroscopes (OGs) [3–5].
MEMS vibratory gyroscopes (MVGs) [6–9] are an interesting alternative, but have exhibited
limitations on various fronts. The need for a large released mass makes MVGs vulnerable to
shock [10]. Since most MVGs operate at few kHz with quality factors > 1,000, their output
bandwidth is limited to mHz for frequency matched operation [11] unless complex bandwidth
extension techniques are used [12]. Furthermore, the low operation frequency makes the
gyroscope susceptible to environmental vibrations [13]. On the other hand, OGs such as Fiber
Optic Gyroscope (FOG) and Ring Laser Gyroscope (RLG) can achieve both high
performance and operation stability [3]. Unfortunately, miniaturization and power scaling of
these implementations are challenging [14–19]. In this work, we demonstrate the first
prototype of an Acousto-Optic Gyroscope (AOG), which has the theoretical capability of
addressing all the major issues encountered in MVGs or miniaturized OGs. The AOG is
based on the concept of the Surface Acoustic Wave Gyroscope (SAWG) [20–22], in which
the Coriolis force detection is performed optically instead of acousto-electrically. The use of
SAW resonators enables the realization of a large unreleased mass and wide bandwidth
operation. The optical sensing of the strain induced by the Coriolis force (via the acousto-
optic effects) provides for extremely low noise levels, high sensitivity, and stable readout. In
addition, the optical detection method significantly simplifies the electronic readout. The
Coriolis-induced strain is mapped to a change in the effective index of the optical waveguide
through the acousto-optic effect. Different photonic phase sensing techniques can be used to
detect the index change such as a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) [23] operated in the
push pull operation or a racetrack (RT) resonator [24]. In section 2 of this article, we describe
the implementation of the proposed AOG in a lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) substrate,
which was selected because of its unique acoustic and photonic properties [25,26]. The Scale

#335344 https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.26.025060
Journal © 2018 Received 29 Jun 2018; revised 5 Aug 2018; accepted 21 Aug 2018; published 11 Sep 2018
 Vol. 26, No. 19 | 17 Sep 2018 | OPTICS EXPRESS 25061

Factor, SF, of a gyroscope is defined as the ratio of the output voltage to the input rotation.
We derive the SF for the AOG in section 3. Section 3.2 compares the two aforementioned
phase sensing techniques deriving the SF for each case. In section 4 we present the overall
design of the AOG and in section 5 we discuss its fabrication. The theoretical analysis is
verified experimentally in Section 6. Finally, we report the angular random walk (ARW)
measurement for the MZI-AOG and compare it with the SAWG fabricated on the same
platform. This work constitutes the very first demonstration of the AOG concept.
2. Principle of operation
Figure 1 depicts a schematic view of the AOG and offers an overview of its principle of
operation. Two orthogonal SAW resonators are shown (only reflectors are shown in the y
direction to avoid cluttering the image) with metallic pillars placed at the center acting as the
moving mass, M p , of the gyroscope. A SAW standing wave pattern is established along the
x (drive) direction. The pillars are placed inside the cavity at the anti-nodes of the SAW
standing wave pattern (location of maximum x-directed velocity). The pillars are driven
longitudinally with vibration velocity, v p . When out-plane rotation, Ω z , is applied, Coriolis
force, Fc , is induced on the vibrating pillars in the direction orthogonal to both the input
rotation direction and the drive vibration direction. The Coriolis force can be expressed as
[25,27]:
Fc = -2M p Ω z × v p (1)

Fig. 1. 3D sketch of the AOG (PD = Photo-detector, IDT = Interdigitated transducer). IDT on
the sense cavity are not shown to avoid cluttering the drawing, but reflectors are present to
point out that a high Q acoustic cavity is also present on the sense side.

The pillars are arranged in a checkerboard configuration such that their constructive
interference establishes a secondary SAW in the y (sense) direction. For Rayleigh SAW
mode, the dominant strain component is the longitudinal one along the propagation direction,
S, which can be expressed in terms of the stress, σ as S ≈ σ / ( ρ vR2 ) where ρ = 4700 kg / m3
(for lithium niobate (LN)) is the substrate mass density and vR = 3488 m / sec is the Rayleigh
SAW phase velocity. Since the stress can be directly related to the Coriolis force as
σ = Fc / ( LH ) where L is the acousto-optical (AO) interaction length and H is the SAW
penetration depth [28] (which is less than 10% of the acoustic wavelength, Λ [26]), then we
can express the strain, S, as:
 Vol. 26, No. 19 | 17 Sep 2018 | OPTICS EXPRESS 25062

Fc
S= (2)
ρ vR2 LH
In SAW gyroscopes [21,29], piezoelectric transducers are commonly used to sense the
secondary waves. In this work, the secondary wave is detected through the elasto-optic effect
in the photonic waveguides etched in the Lithium Niobate (LN) thin film, i.e. by monitoring
the refractive index change, Δ n , due to the strain induced by the secondary wave. The
change in the effective index of the optical waveguide is expressed as:
1 3
Δn = n peff S (3)
2
where peff is the effective acousto-optic coefficient in the specific propagation direction of the
SAW. The photonic sensing technique shown in Fig. 2 uses a push-pull MZI (PP-MZI),
which converts the phase modulation to intensity modulation at the photodetector output by
mixing the optical beams from the two MZI arms. However, other phase sensing techniques
like AOG RT can also be used, as we will discuss in the following sections.
3. AOG scale factor and comparison of photonic detection techniques
The SF (or sensitivity) of the AOG is determined by the change in the optical signal
intensity, T, due to the phase variation, φAOG,, G = ∂T / ∂ϕ AOG , as a function of the external
rotation, Ωz, β AOG = ∂ϕ AOG / ∂Ω z , which directly relates to the SAW cavity design and the
elasto-optic characteristics of the LN film. Overall, the SF can be expressed as:
∂T ∂T ∂ϕ AOG
SF = = = G β AOG (4)
∂Ω z ∂ϕ AOG ∂Ω z
The induced phase shift due to rotation, ϕ AOG , can be expressed in terms of the refractive
index change, Δn, and the waveguide length, L, as:
2π
ϕ AOG = Δn L (5)
λ
where λ = 1550 nm is the optical wavelength. The SF is written in this way so that a direct
comparison between various phase sensing techniques can be formulated by analyzing the
∂T
gain factor, G = .
∂ϕ AOG max

3.1 Rotation induced phase changes

Placing the waveguides at the location of maximum strain for the standing wave pattern of the
SAW cavity enhances the phase sensitivity by the resonator quality factor in the sense
direction, QS. This phenomenon can be accounted for by modifying Eq. (5) to be:
2π
ϕ AOG = QS LΔn (6)
λ
The vibration velocity in Eq. (1) can be expressed in terms of the drive parameters: the
electrical power, Pm , the drive resonator quality factor, QD , the resonator equivalent mass,
M r [30], and the SAW resonance frequency, f m , as:

Pm QD
vp = (7)
π fm M r
 Vol. 26, No. 19 | 17 Sep 2018 | OPTICS EXPRESS 25063

Combining Eqs. (1) - (7), the rotation induced phase can thus be derived to be equal to:

2π M2 Pm QD
β AOG = Mp Q (8)
λH ρ vR π fm M r S

(
where M 2 = n 6 ( peff )
2
) / ( ρ v ) is the AO figure of merit of the material.
3
R

3.2 Photonic sensing techniques

Figure 2 shows the two phase sensing techniques considered for comparison in this study.
Figure 2(a) represents a PP-MZI where Ein represents the input electric field while Eo1 and Eo2
represent the output fields from the MMI coupler. For differential operation of the PP-MZI,
its normalized transfer function is given by TPP − MZI = sin 2ϕ AOG . The factor of two in the sin
argument is due to the push-pull operation enabled by separating the MZI arms’ centers by a
distance equal to 3Λ / 2 [31,32]. This separation implies opposite phase modulation in the two
arms such that when one waveguide is under compression, the other one is under tension.
Thus, the AOG SF gain can be derived by evaluating the maximum of ∂T / ∂ϕ AOG , which is
equal to:
GPP − MZI = 2 (9)

Secondary
(a)
d SAW wave
3-dB MM
coupler
3Λ Eo1
Ein L
Eo 2
2

Secondary
(b) d SAW wave

L 7Λ

Ein Eout
Fig. 2. Phase sensing techniques for the AOG where the secondary acoustic induced due to
rotation is sensed as strain variation in the photonic waveguides: (a) The strained waveguides
are part of a PP-MZI and (b) The strained waveguides are part of an RT resonator.

The AOG RT phase sensing technique is shown in Fig. 2(b) where an RT is coupled to a
bus waveguide. We assume that only the two straight arms of the RT contribute to the phase
modulation. For this reason the separation between the two straight arms in the RT is set to an
even multiple of Λ / 2 , so that both waveguides will be either under compression or tension
at the same time. Thus, the transfer function for the RT can be expressed in terms of the round
 Vol. 26, No. 19 | 17 Sep 2018 | OPTICS EXPRESS 25064

trip intrinsic loss inside the RT, a 2 , the coupling coefficient, r 2 , and the round trip total
phase shift, ϕ , as:

a 2 + r 2 − 2ar cos (ϕ )
TRT = (10)
1 + a 2 r 2 − 2ar cos (ϕ )

2π
where ϕ = ϕo + 2ϕ AOG , ϕo = n LT is the round trip phase shift, and LT is the total
λ
racetrack length. Thus:

∂TRT 2ar sin ϕ (1 + a 2 r 2 − r 2 − a 2 )

= (11)
∂ϕ AOG (1 + a 2 r 2 − 2ar cos ϕ )
2

Figure 3 plots TRT and its derivative as function of ϕ AOG . The finesse, F, can be derived
π ar
also in terms of a and r as F = . The plot in Fig. 3 assumes a specific value of the
1 − ar
cavity finesse, F = 13. It is evident that the maximum value of the derivative of TRT is a strong
∂TRT
function of a and r. has a maximum at a specific phase offset that equals to one quarter
∂ϕ
of the full width half maximum (Δφ1/2), Δφmax = Δφ1/2 / 4 where Δφ1/2 is given in terms of a
2 (1 − ar )
and r as Δϕ1/ 2 = . Accordingly, the maximum AOG sensitivity gain can be derived
ar
as:

∂TRT
GRT = (12)
∂ϕ AOG ϕ =Δϕ1/2 / 4

At this specific bias point, and assuming a low loss resonator, we can
2
1  Δϕ 
approximate sin ϕ ≈ Δϕ1/ 2 / 4 and cos ϕ ≈ 1 −  1/ 2  in Eq. (11) to get:
2 4 

2ar Δϕ1/ 2 (1 − a 2 )(1 − r 2 )

GRT ≈ (13)
2 2

2  1 + a 2 r 2 − 2ar + ar
( Δ ϕ1/ 2 ) 

 16 
 
Also for low loss cavity near critical coupling, we can impose that a ≈ r and
πr 2π
F≈ = so as to find a very simple expression of the RT gain factor:
1 − r 2 Δϕ1/ 2

32 F 2 F
GRT = ≈ (14)
25π 5
To verify this analytical value, the derivative ∂TRT / ∂ϕ AOG is computed numerically using
Matlab and plotted in Fig. 4 as a function of r for two values of a = 0.85 and a = 0.99 . The
first value a = 0.85 represents the round trip loss extracted from the RT resonator of this
work and is equivalent to a propagation loss of 2.5 dB/cm. The second value of a = 0.99,
corresponds to ultra-low losses (2.5 dB/m) that were recently reported for etched waveguide
on the same LNOI substrate [33]. Note that the finesse of the cavity is varying along that
 Vol. 26, No. 19 | 17 Sep 2018 | OPTICS EXPRESS 25065

curve as r varies and the dashed lines point out the F value at the points of maximum slope.
The numerical analysis confirms our analytical conclusion that the gain in the SF is bounded
by 2 F / 5 . It also shows that the RT has to be under-coupled for maximum phase sensitivity
in agreement with [34].

a =0.85, r =0.92, F =13

Δ ϕ1/ 2
-5
Δϕ1/2
Δϕ max =
4
-10
-0.1 -0.05 0 0.05 0.1
/
5

-5
-0.1 -0.05 0 0.05 0.1
/
Fig. 3. RT transfer function and its derivative as function of phase. Maximum phase sensitivity
is obtained at one quarter of the full width half maximum.

2.5 dB/cm r = 0.995

2.5 dB/m F = 203

r = 0.92
F = 13

Fig. 4. GRT as function of r for two values of a. The lower the losses, the more sensitive is the
RT. Optimum coupling is found at r = a for maximum phase sensitivity.
 Vol. 26, No. 19 | 17 Sep 2018 | OPTICS EXPRESS 25066

4. Acousto-optic gyroscope design

Figure 5 and Fig. 6 show the layout views for the MZI-AOG and the RT-AOG respectively
with zoomed-in SEMs of the various constitutive components. Four identical Interdigitated
Transducers (IDTs), SAW reflectors and photonic waveguides are placed symmetrically with
respect to a central pillar-filled cavity so as to ensure frequency matching between orthogonal
SAW resonators. The IDTs in the sense direction are not excited electrically so that they have
minimum effect on the secondary SAW standing wave pattern. The reason for having IDTs in
the sense direction is to make sure that we have a fully symmetric design and are able to
match the frequencies of the drive and sense resonators. The light is coupled in and out using
grating couplers. The photonic readout shown in Fig. 5 is based on a (PP-MZI) where a Y
junction is used for splitting the optical input into the two arms of the MZI [23] and a 2x2
multimode interference (MMI) 3-dB coupler is used as a beam combiner. The differential
output is detected using a balanced photodetector. On the other hand, an RT is used in the
photonic read-out where a butterfly MMI coupler [35] is used to couple the light to the RT.
The following sub-sections will describe the design of each component forming the two
AOGs.
Pillars: generate
Coriolis force
Y-junction: divide IDT: generate and
optical power sense SAW

50 μm

10 μm 200 μm

10 μm 50 μm

Grating coupler: AOG LAYOUT

couple light from fiber 45⁰ Rotated SAW Drive/Sense 3dB coupler: provide
to chip and vice versa and MZI Read-out differential power output

Fig. 5. Layout view of the MZI AOG with zoomed-in SEMs of the various components
forming it.
Racetrack Bend waveguide

20 μm
Grating coupler:
couple light from fiber
to chip and vice versa MMI coupler: split
light with desired ratio

10 μm
20 μm

50 μm 50 μm

IDT: generate and AOG LAYOUT Pillars: generate

sense SAW 45⁰ Rotated SAW Drive/Sense Coriolis force
and Racetrack Read-out

Fig. 6. Layout view of the RT AOG with zoomed-in SEMs of the various components forming
it.
 Vol. 26, No. 19 | 17 Sep 2018 | OPTICS EXPRESS 25067

4.1 SAW resonator design

The SAW resonator Q in the drive and sense directions can be fully harnessed when the
frequencies of the orthogonal resonators are matched. Previous SAW gyroscope designs
[20,29,36] targeted SAW propagation direction and LN wafer cuts that provide the highest
electromechanical coupling coefficient by driving the SAW in the Z direction for a Y cut LN
wafer. However, for such a cut, the material properties in the two orthogonal in-plane
directions (X and Z) are not the same due the trigonal crystalline structure of LN. Such a
configuration makes frequency matching difficult. In our AOG design, the two SAW
resonators are rotated by ± 45° with respect to the Z-direction to preserve symmetry, hence
inherently matching the drive and sense frequencies [37]. The aperture length is equal to the
total cavity length and is chosen to be L = 40Λ. The acoustic wavelength is selected to be
Λ = 30 μ m so as to fit the gyroscope design in a 20x20 mm2 die. This wavelength
corresponds to an acoustic frequency of 115 MHz. The SAW reflector has 700 fingers to
ensure proper confinement of the SAW inside the cavity.
4.2 Photonic components design
For both types of AOGs, grating couplers were used to couple light in and out of the photonic
components. The grating coupler dimensions (shown in Fig. 7(a)) were optimized using
FDTD LUMERICAL tool for maximum coupling efficiency for the TE polarized light.
Δ g = 1μ m for the period, δ / Δ g = 0.44 for the duty cycle and e = 330nm for the etch depth
[38], assuming θm = 8 degrees as the coupling angle were selected.
The length of the waveguides of the MZI arms and the RT straight arm is chosen to be
equal to the cavity length. The waveguides are placed at the positions of maximum strain in
the SAW cavity. The MZI arms’ separation is set to 3Λ/2 for push-pull operation while the
RT straight arms’ separation is set to 7Λ to double the phase sensitivity. The length and width
of the 3-dB MMI coupler in the MZI-AOG are chosen to be L3dB − MMI = 118.1μ m
and W3dB − MMI = 11.6 μ m , respectively (see Fig. 7(b)), to ensure 3-dB splitting around 1550 nm
(optical wavelength). The dimensions of the butterfly MMI coupler [35] in the RT-AOG were
chosen to be equal to W1BF −MMI = 7.6 μ m for the outer width (see Fig. 7(c)), W2BF −MMI = 14.5μ m
for the inner width and LBF − MMI = 442.6μ m for the length.

(a) (b) (c)

Single Mode
Optical Fiber Δ W2BF −MMI
Δ
LN
W3dB − MMI
SiO2
W1BF −MMI LBF − MMI
LN BOX L3dB − MMI

Fig. 7. (a) Grating Coupler design dimensions. (b) 3-dB MMI coupler design dimensions. (c)
Butterfly MMI coupler design dimensions.
 Vol. 26, No. 19 | 17 Sep 2018 | OPTICS EXPRESS 25068

5. Fabrication process

A. LNOI substrate B. Al lift off C. Au lift off

D. SiO2 deposition E. Cr deposition F. Cr patterning (WGs)

G. Cr patterning (e-beam patterning) H. SiO2 etch I. LN etch

Resonator Gratings
Pillars IDT Coupler
WGs SAW reflector

LN Al

Au SiO2

Cr
J. SiO2 dry etch

Fig. 8. Fabrication process flow for manufacturing the AOG.

The fabrication process flow is depicted in Fig. 8 starting with a Y-cut LNOI 4” wafer. The
LN thin film (3” diameter and 500 nm in thickness) is bonded to silicon dioxide (SiO2, 1 μ m
thick) on a LN substrate. The thin film was formed by means of ion-implantation, slicing and
polishing (Fig. 8(A)) by an external vendor [39]. The first fabrication step consists in the lift-
off of evaporated Al thin film (Fig. 8(B)), which is set to be 100 nm thick and is used to
define the IDT and reflector electrodes. After this step, a 140 nm Au layer lift-off is
performed (Fig. 8(C)) for patterning of the pillars. Au is also used for coating the Al pads to
facilitate wire bonding for testing purposes. The next step is the deposition of SiO2 (1 µm
thick) (Fig. 8(D)), which is used as a mask layer during the LN etch. Chromium (Cr) (50 nm
thick) is then deposited (Fig. 8(E)) and used as a mask for etching SiO2. This Cr layer is
patterned twice. The first pattern is done with optical lithography to define the waveguides
(WGs) (Fig. 8(F)). The second Cr patterning is performed at the die level using electron-beam
lithography to define the grating couplers (Fig. 8(G)). Then SiO2 is etched in an reactive ion
etching (RIE) process using fluorine-based chemistry with the double-defined Cr mask (Fig.
8(H)). Chlorine-based chemistry is used in an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) RIE process
to partially etch the LN with the SiO2 mask (Fig. 8(I)). The Cr mask is also removed during
the ICP etch step. The final step is dry etch (Fig. 8(J)) of SiO2 to expose the metallic pads and
completely remove it from the SAW resonator surface.
6. Measurement results
6.1 Characterization of SAW resonators
The frequency responses of the drive and sense acoustic resonators are measured using a
vector network analyzer (PNA N5230A) and RF probing. The measurement result showing
the magnitude of the cross coupling admittance, Y21, between the two ports of each resonator
is reported in Fig. 9. The ~40 kHz mismatch between sense and drive frequencies can be
attributed to fabrication misalignments. This mismatch is still within the resonator bandwidth,
 Vol. 26, No. 19 | 17 Sep 2018 | OPTICS EXPRESS 25069

which is approximately 50 kHz since the loaded QD = QS = 500 . The quality factor and
mismatch can be considered as the limiting aspect for the AOG bandwidth (25 kHz) which is
well beyond what can be accomplished by MVGs.

Δ 40

Fig. 9. Frequency response for the drive and sense cavities showing a mismatch of 40 kHz
which is within the resonator bandwidth (100 kHz).

6.2 Characterization of the photonic MZI and RT

Figure 10(a) plots the MZI transfer function for the two outputs as a function of the
wavelength. A balanced output is achieved near the design value of 1550 nm.

0
0
Output 1 Measurement
Fitting
Output 2 -1
-10
r = 0.45
-2 a = 0.85
F ~3
-20
-3
(a) (b)
-30 -4
1500 1550 1600 1650 1528.3 1528.4 1528.5 1528.6
(nm) (nm)

Fig. 10. (a) Measured insertion loss for the two output ports of the MZI as function of the
wavelength.(b) Measured insertion loss for the RT as function of wavelength together with
fitting. a, r and F were extracted from the fitting.

The slight shift in the wavelength might be attributed to differences in the actual
dimensions of the etched waveguides with respect to the design values. The envelope reflects
the transfer function of the grating couplers. On the other hand, the RT transfer function with
respect to the wavelength is plotted in Fig. 10(b) together with the fitting (to Eq. (10)) to
extract the round trip loss, a, and the coupling coefficient, r, as well as the Finesse, F. Despite
some discrepancies in the fitting of the RT transfer function due mostly to the assumption of
having a single mode waveguide (note that the waveguides are 2 µm wide due to fabrication
constraints and well above the width required for single-mode operation), it was possible to
 Vol. 26, No. 19 | 17 Sep 2018 | OPTICS EXPRESS 25070

confidently extract the values of a and r for the fabricated RT. The fiber to chip coupling loss
for the MZI was about −35 dB while that for the RT was about −36 dB. The minimum
insertion loss for the RT was found at an optical wavelength near 1528 nm, which is different
from the design wavelength of the butterfly MMI coupler. The high coupling loss is attributed
mostly to the accuracy of the fiber alignment to the photonic chip and to the fabrication
tolerance of the gratings couplers dimensions. In fact, our prior work on LNOI gratings
couplers has demonstrated insertion loss of about 12 dB per coupler [38].To compensate for
such high coupling loss in the AOG measurement, an Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA)
is used as described in the next section. Although the butterfly MMI coupler was designed to
achieve slightly under-coupling conditions, the extracted value for r at the wavelength of
operation is instead reflecting an over-coupling condition (r < a), which ended up impacting
the SF negatively. Figure 11 plots the RT transfer function and its derivative for the coupling
condition that was achieved experimentally and shows the bias point for maximum
sensitivity. Although the attained losses match the one simulated in Fig. 4, it is clear that
because of the achieved value of r, the RT configuration is not expected to yield a net
enhancement in the sensitivity of the AOG. The plot also shows the bias point at the phase
offset of one quarter of the full width half maximum. In term of wavelength, the bias point
λ2
can be derived as Δλmax = Δϕ max .
2π nL

Δ ϕ1/ 2
Δϕ1/2
Δϕmax =
4

Fig. 11. RT transfer function and its derivative as a function of phase for the actual losses and
coupling condition.

6.3 AOG SF measurement

The AOG measurement setup is shown in Fig. 12 where each of the AOG samples is mounted
on the rate table (Ideal Aerosmith 1291RB) together with the optical positioners and
connected to the measurement instruments. The gyroscope die is packaged in a Pin Grid
Array (PGA) ceramic package. An Ultra-High Frequency Lock-In (UHFLI) amplifier from
Zurich Instruments is used to phase lock the SAW drive resonator using a built-in Phase
Locked Loop (PLL). In addition, a built-in Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller is
used to amplitude-control the drive signal for the SAW resonator and reject any variations
 Vol. 26, No. 19 | 17 Sep 2018 | OPTICS EXPRESS 25071

due to vibration or temperature drift. An optical carrier generated by a benchtop tunable laser
(SANTEC TSL-510) is coupled into the optical grating via a vertical groove array (VGA). A
polarization controller is used after the laser to make sure that we excite the TE polarization
for which the gratings couplers were optimized. The same VGA is also used to couple out the
modulated gyroscope signal through another set of fibers in the array. The EDFA is placed
after the output coupler to compensate for the coupling loss.

PM RF coaxial Polarization ZI-box

fiber cables Controller UHFLI
PD
Bread EDFA
board Tunable
Laser
Manipulators VGA Goose-neck
Camera
Bread
Rate table board
controller

Rate table
Fig. 12. AOG measurement setup. The optical setup with the positioners and manipulators are
mounted on top of the rate table.

The optical alignment is optimized by adjusting a six degree of freedom manipulator

while looking for maximum transmission as the laser wavelength is being swept. The
photonic output is fed to the lock-in amplifier where the Coriolis component is separated from
the quadrature component. Due to the RF cables and fibers, full 360° rotations for the rate
table are not allowed. The input rotation is applied as a sinusoidal oscillation to the rate table.
To make sure the optical alignment between the fibers and the gratings couplers does not
affect the measurement results, the input rotation frequency is limited to 2 Hz and the
amplitude to 8 degrees.
The SF can be extracted for each AOG as the slope of the straight line in Fig. 13(a). The
measured SFPP-MZI = 48 nV / (o/sec) in the case of the PP-MZI is higher than that of the RT
SFRT = 9 nV / (o/sec) with the ratio SFPP − MZI / SFRT ≈ 5.3 . Due to variations in the coupling
efficiency, the values of the SF vary from measurement to measurement within ± 58% of the
average value of 48 nV / (o/sec) and 9 nV / (o/sec) respectively for the PP-MZI and the RT
detection methods. The expected theoretical values for the SFs can be obtained directly from
Eqs. (8), (9) and (14) as SFPP-MZI = 58 nV / (o/sec) and SFRT = 20 nV / (o/sec). Since the two
SAW resonators behave identically for both AOGs, the theoretically predicted ratio between
the two SFs can be calculated as the ratio between the two gain factors (see Fig. 13(b))
SFPP − MZI GPP − MZI 2
= = = 2.9 (15)
SFRT GRT 0.7
The discrepancy between the theoretical prediction and the measured values is attributed
mostly to the uncertainty on the repeatability of the coupling. Furthermore, the actual
placement of the pillars and fabrication variations have minor impact on that discrepancy. It is
important to note that the RT-based detection method yielded a SF lower than the one of the
MZI-based method because of the specific losses and the value of r achieved by the RT
resonator in this demonstration. In theory, if lower losses and appropriate values of r are
 Vol. 26, No. 19 | 17 Sep 2018 | OPTICS EXPRESS 25072

attained, then higher gains are possible from the RT-based detection method. These
experimental results showcase the first demonstration of an AOG and confirm the validity of
our proposed analytical model for the different photonic sensing techniques. The theoretical
projections hint that with the appropriate design of the couplers and reduced losses, the AOG
sensitivity could be significantly improved, making it a competitive solution beyond MVGs.

(a) (b)
5
PP-MZI Measurements
6 PP-MZI
PP-MZI Fitting
RT Measurements
RT
4 RT Fitting

4
3
SFPP − MZI GPP−MZI = 2
2
2
1 GRT = 0.7
SFRT
0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
o
z
( / sec) r
Fig. 13. (a) Measured output voltage as a function of rotation rate together with fitting to
extract the scale factor for each AOG. (b) Theoretical comparison between the two photonic
sensing techniques. The value of the expected gain factor for the experimentally demonstrated
value of r is indicated on the plot.

6.4 AOG ARW measurement

The zero-rate output (ZRO) of the MZI-AOG was recorded for 4 hours and its Allan
deviation is plotted in Fig. 14 from where we can extract ARW of 60o / hr and bias
instability less than 1° / sec. The figure also compares the noise performance of the AOG with
the same gyroscope, but operated as a SAWG with acousto-electrical sensing (i.e. the output
is sensed through the sense SAW resonator). The results highlight the better stability of the
AOG due to the decoupling between the acoustic drive signal and the optical sensing signal.
Although far from coming close to the best performance MVGs or OGs, this first prototype
shows the feasibility of the proposed idea and lays the foundations for further engineering of
a high performance component.
 Vol. 26, No. 19 | 17 Sep 2018 | OPTICS EXPRESS 25073

102

101 SAWG
AOG

100

10-2 100 102

(sec)
Fig. 14. Measured Allan deviation for the zero-rate output of the AOG compared with the
experimental results for the same device tested as a SAWG (electro-acoustic read-out instead
of acousto-optic).

7. Conclusion
A novel rotation sensing technique based on the acousto-optic effect is developed. Two
different photonic phase sensing techniques are considered and compared both theoretically
and experimentally. The manufacturability of this novel device is made possible by the
development of a fabrication process that integrates acoustic and photonic components on the
same LNOI platform. The experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed
AOG and, most importantly, verify the theoretical description of its principle of operation. In
this paper, we have presented proof-of-concept results for the first prototype of the AOG.
Despite the limited performance, it can be theoretically shown that the technology could yield
more than 20 x improvements by reducing the losses on the photonic components (shown to
be possible in [33]) and properly designing the MMI coupler. Such improvements yields
enhancement of about 20x in the SF and the ARW. Furthermore, additional 20x improvement
is possible by increasing the SAW resonators Q and operating at a larger acoustic wavelength.
Thus, a new class of highly sensitive strain-based acousto-optic gyroscopes can be developed.
8. Funding
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Precise Robust Inertial Guide for
Munitions (PRIGM)-Advanced Inertial Micro Sensor (AIMS) program (Award No. N66001-
16-1- 4025).
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