Nonlinear symmetry breaking to enhance the Sagnac effect in a microresonator gyroscope

Optical gyroscopes based on the Sagnac effect have been widely used for inertial navigation in aircraft, submarines, satellites, and unmanned robotics. With the rapid progress in the field of ultrahigh-quality whispering gallery mode and ring resonators in recent years, these devices offer the promise of a compact alternative to ring laser gyroscopes and fiber optic gyroscopes. Yet, the successful commercialization of a microresonator gyroscope has been hindered by the scaling of the Sagnac effect with resonator area. While several techniques have been proposed to enhance the Sagnac effect in microresonators, these enhancements also amplify the thermal noise in the microresonator. Here, we present an approach to measuring the Sagnac signal in chip-scale devices that overcomes this fundamental noise limitation to achieve unprecedented performance in a 200 μm optical resonator—the smallest reported to date. Our proof-of-concept design shows a 104 enhancement of the Sagnac signal while simultaneously suppressing thermal noise by 27 dB and environmental contributions to noise by 22 dB. We believe this approach offers a pathway to compact integrated photonic gyroscopes that reach the sensitivity required for inertial navigation.