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M. Hokmabadi, A. Schumer, D. Christodoulides, M. Khajavikhan:
"Non-Hermitian ring laser gyroscopes with enhanced Sagnac sensitivity";
Nature, 576 (2019), 7785; 70 - 74.

Gyroscopes are essential to many diverse applications associated with navigation, positioning and inertial sensing. In general, most optical gyroscopes rely on the Sagnac effect-a relativistically induced phase shift that scales linearly with the rotational velocity. In ring laser gyroscopes (RLGs), this shift manifests as a resonance splitting in the emission spectrum, which can be detected as a beat frequency. The need for ever more precise RLGs has fuelled research activities aimed at boosting the sensitivity of RLGs beyond the limits dictated by geometrical constraints, including attempts to use either dispersive or nonlinear effects. Here we establish and experimentally demonstrate a method using non-Hermitian singularities, or exceptional points, to enhance the Sagnac scale factor. By exploiting the increased rotational sensitivity of RLGs in the vicinity of an exceptional point, we enhance the resonance splitting by up to a factor of 20. Our results pave the way towards the next generation of ultrasensitive and compact RLGs and provide a practical approach for the development of other classes of integrated sensor.

Gyroscope, Exceptional Points, non-Hermitian physics, Sagnac effect

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1780-4