ABSTRACT
Ring Laser Gyroscope (RLG) is a very useful electro-optical device used for navigation purposes in Missiles. It is considered much more suitable than the mechanical Gyroscope. The system is based on the interference between two opposite co-rotating laser beams, and the fringes’ variation provides very accurate information about the motion of the missile, which is used for the mid course correction. The device being dependent on the electro-optic effect provides very precise information. The key component of the RLG is the mirror, which is required to have scattering loss −3 ppm or better, since scattering results in the lock in problem in the RLG. And so there is no movement of the fringes, because of which the RLG stops working. This paper presents the qualitative results of various RLG Mirror coatings developed with different coating materials, different rates of coating, and different coatings designs. Some numerical results have also been presented along with the possible explanations. The paper seems to be a very useful attempt to introduce the intricacies of the subject to the budding researchers, scientists, and coating designers and engineers.
