EAGER: Fundamental Considerations in Using Non-Hermitian Microscale Resonant Optical Structures for Rotation Sensing

在从广义相对论到机器人学、医学成像、虚拟现实、计算机游戏、无人驾驶飞行器(无人机)和无人驾驶汽车等许多现有和新兴的科学技术领域，测量转速都是至关重要的。多年来，人们利用各种物理现象来测量自转速度。在光学方面，萨尼亚克效应已被用来开发一些最精细和最精确的工具来确定转速。事实上，到目前为止，自由空间环形激光陀螺仪(RLG)和无源光纤陀螺仪是迄今为止制造的最灵敏的旋转传感器之一。然而，尽管环形激光陀螺仪在抗冲击和振动方面具有优异的性能，但它不易扩展，因此无法集成到芯片上。最近，一种基于差分增益结构的技术被提出以显著提高RLG的灵敏度。这项工作的目标是研究这项技术的基本局限性，并为开发超灵敏的芯片环形激光陀螺仪铺平道路。该项目将为学生提供科学培训。最近的研究表明，非厄米简并可以显著提高光子共振结构的灵敏度。这种灵敏度增强可以变得非常有用的一个领域是环形激光陀螺仪(RLG)。在标准光学陀螺仪中，灵敏度随封闭面积的平方根而增加。这一行为导致了大小和敏感度之间的根本权衡。然而，使用非厄米简并或特异点来提高灵敏度，在量子噪声、检测极限、测量稳定性和信噪比方面提出了几个基本问题。该提案旨在以分析性和结论性的方式解决这些问题，并确定非厄米特陀螺仪的性能指标。此外，还将考虑陀螺仪的一些组成部分的设计和制造。这项拟议的研究不仅可能影响芯片级陀螺仪的技术，还将推动非厄米物理科学的发展。

Measuring rotation rate is of utmost importance in a number of existing and emerging areas of science and technology, from general relativity, to robotics, medical-imaging, virtual reality, computer games, unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), and driverless cars. Over the years, various physical phenomena have been utilized for measuring rotation rates. In optics, the Sagnac effect has been employed to develop some of the finest and most accurate tools for determining rotational speeds. In fact, as of now, free-space ring laser gyroscopes (RLG) and passive fiber optic gyroscopes are among the most sensitive rotational sensors built to date. However, despite their superior performance in terms of resilience to shock and vibration, ring laser gyroscopes are not readily scalable and therefore cannot be integrated on chip. Recently, a technique based on differential gain architecture was proposed to significantly increase the sensitivity of RLGs. The goal of the proposed effort is to investigate the fundamental limitations of this technique and to pave the way towards the development of ultrasensitive ring laser gyroscopes on chip. The project will provide scientific training for students.Recent studies suggest that non-Hermitian degeneracies can significantly enhance the sensitivity of photonic resonant structures. One area where such sensitivity enhancement can become very useful is in ring laser gyroscopes (RLGs). In standard optical gyroscopes, sensitivity increases with the square root of the enclosed area. This behavior results in a fundamental trade-off between size and sensitivity. However, the use of non-Hermitian degeneracies or exceptional points for sensitivity enhancement raises several fundamental questions in terms of quantum noise, detection limit, measurement stability, and signal to noise ratio. The proposal aims to address these issues in an analytical and conclusive way and to determine the performance metrics for non-Hermitian gyroscopes. In addition, the design and fabrication of some of the constituent parts of the gyroscope will be considered. The proposed research may not only impact the technology of chip-scale gyroscopes, but will also advance the science of non-Hermitian physics.