Abstract: A interferometric optical gyroscope includes an active resonator comprising a half cavity vertical cavity surface emitting laser (half-VCSEL) operating as one of the mirrors that form the ring resonator. The half-VCSEL includes a bottom mirror stack and active layers formed on the bottom mirror stack and has a surface opposite the bottom mirror stack. Lack of a top mirror stack typically found in a VCSEL prevents the half-VCSEL from lasing, thus the half-VCSEL forms a reflective amplifier for the light circulating in the resonator. A single or multiple external light sources can be used to induce two counter-propagating beams in the resonator. Higher finesse due to the internal gain in the resonator enhances the sensitivity of the gyroscope.

Abstract: A system and method for measuring orientation of an object. In the illustrative embodiment, the object is a ball (42) in a ball and socket type pointing and stabilization system. The novel system (40) includes an encoded pattern (46) applied to a portion of the surface of the ball (42), a pattern reader (44) which reads the pattern (46) off the ball (42) and outputs data representative of the pattern (46), and a processor (48) which decodes the data into orientation information. In the preferred embodiment, the pattern reader (44) is an electro-optical sensor, and the encoded pattern (46) includes a grid of dots (52) arranged in a first predetermined number of dot code cycles (58) wherein each dot code cycle (58) includes a second predetermined number of dots. The processor (48) includes an algorithm (100) which computes pitch, yaw, and roll angles from the pattern reader data.