The miniaturization of the gyroscope is critical for spacecrafts, drones, wellbore surveys, etc. The resonant fiber-optic gyroscope (RFOG) is a competitive candidate due to its potential in both miniaturization and high resolution, while its actual performance is well below expectation because of laser-induced noise and complexity. Here we report the first navigation grade RFOG with a bias instability of 0.009°/h and an angle random walk of 0.0093°/ h . The results are realized using a fiber resonator with finesse of 63 containing 100-m long fiber. Compared with the traditional RFOGs using narrow-linewidth lasers, the key feature of the proposed RFOG is that it is driven with a broadband light source. A white-light multibeam interference method is proposed to detect the Sagnac effect, representing the simplest scheme of RFOG to date. The complexity caused by multiple feedback loops and coherent noise suppression in traditional RFOG scheme is avoided. The minimal scheme and simple modulation algorithm will also promote the on-chip waveguide gyroscope.

In the area of fiber-optic sensors (FOSs), the past decade witnessed great efforts to challenge the thermal-noise-level sensing resolution for passive FOS. Several attempts were reported claiming the arrival of thermal-noise-level resolution, while the realization of thermal-noise-level resolution for passive FOSs is still controversial and challenging. In this paper, an ultrahigh-resolution FOS system is presented with a sensing resolution better than existing high-resolution passive FOSs. A fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer as the sensing element is interrogated with an ultra-stable probe laser by using the Pound-Drever-Hall technique. Both strain and temperature measurements are carried out to validate the performance of the sensor. The measured noise floor agrees with the theoretical thermal noise level very well.

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As the second generation of the fiber-optic gyro (FOG), a resonant FOG (RFOG) appears as a very viable candidate for a miniaturized optical gyro. However, due to the impediment of laser-induced parasitic noise and system complexity, the actual performance of the RFOG is well below expectations. This paper proposes a novel, to the best of our knowledge, RFOG which is driven by broadband white light rather than a narrow linewidth laser. The fiber-optic ring resonator (FRR) works as a filter, and the rotation under detection is read out from the round trip loss of the FRR. The parasitic noise is effectively avoided due to the low coherence light, and the measuring resolution can be thus improved. In the experiment, a bias instability of 0.012 ∘ /h is demonstrated with a 100-m fiber coil and a very simple structure. The proposed method would be a big step forward for making the RFOG practical with high performance and low cost.