Planar silicon nitride waveguide and silicon photonics integrated circuit for commercial optical gyroscope

Anello Photonics (Anello) is developing a new miniature Silicon Photonics Optical Gyro (SiPhOG) that can deliver a ten times or greater reduction in Size Weight and Power (SWAP-C) for high-precision rotational rate measurement and Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) as compared to state-of-the-art solutions. Currently, gyroscopes are bifurcated into two primary products and use cases: MEMS-based sensors satisfy the consumer market for commercial use cases and Fiber Optic Gyro (FOG) based sensors satisfy high-end navigation use cases. The Anello SiPhOG is manufactured using a semiconductor-based silicon photonic integrated circuit process, and therefore, Anello’s SiPhOG sensor will be lower priced while operating just as effectively as high-grade sensors. The SiPhOG consists of a planar silicon nitride waveguide direct coupled to a silicon photonic integrated circuit. The waveguide process is custom developed by Anello in a commercial fab and features extremely low-loss.