heuring@uiucdcsb.UUCP (08/23/84)
#N:uiucdcsb:10800007:000:420 uiucdcsb!heuring Aug 23 08:20:00 1984 In the book Einstein's Universe by Nigel Calder an experiment using four quartz spheres as gyroscopes is mentioned as a package to be sent up on the space shuttle. The spheres are meant to measure the "dragging" of space by the earth and were being prepared by a group at Stanford. Have these gone up on any of the shuttle flights? If not when are they due to be sent up? Jerry Heuring uiucdcsa!uiucdcsb!heuring
dub@pur-phy.UUCP (Dwight U. Bartholomew) (08/24/84)
On a similar, but different subject,... can anyone explain to me how a laser gyroscope works. I often heard mention of it, buy I've never figured out how it might work.
jerry@oliveb.UUCP (Jerry Aguirre) (08/31/84)
It's all done with mirrors! Really!
I was quite intrigued by the concept of a no-moving-parts gyroscope so
when an explanation appeared I studied it until I think I understood
it. The basic arrangement is to have two light beams traveling in
opposite directions and reflected or refracted in a roughly circular
path. The example used a triangle formed by three mirrors.
mirror-> -------
/ \
/ \
\ / \ /
mirror-> \ ___________ / <-mirror
\ /
The light is supplied by a laser and is split into two beams, one of
which travels clockwise, and the other which travels counter-
clockwise. Part of each beam is tapped off and the frequency of the
two beams is compared. Any rotation of the gyroscope will cause a
doppler effect and therefor a change in the frequency of the two
beams.
I have also read about a design which uses a fiber-optic cable wound on
a spool. That design offers greater mechanical ruggedness.