Abstract: The apparatus of this invention uses a rectangular-parallelepiped prism to extract portions of the counterpropagating beams from a ring laser of a gyro. Such prism is easier to build than prisms having other than right angles. One beam bounces within the prism, but it is not perfectly reflected, and a portion of the beam is transmitted to a sensor to control the length of the ring laser cavity. The two beams are combined to produce a heterodyne signal by using two partly transmissive mirrors on two parallel surfaces of the prism, and by positioning a third side surface at a critical angle relative to one of the beams.