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Silicon photonic integrated circuits and micro-electro-mechanical systems enable the design of compact, high-performance micro-opto-electro-mechanical systems (MOEMS) gyroscopes, such as recently reported optomechanical gyroscopes. However, effective on-chip light coupling within a confined micro/nano system under vacuum posed challenges for conventional angular velocity measurements in prior optomechanical gyroscopes. Additionally, A core challenge in resonant gyroscopes is directly measuring resonant frequency displacement, necessitating alternative angular velocity detection techniques. Alternatively, this work presents the design of a novel optomechanical gyroscope based on the micro-hemispherical shell resonator integrated with optical ring cavity resonators. This integrated optomechanical device combines the principles of shell resonators and optical ring cavity resonators to enhance gyroscope performance. The high-Q optical ring resonators coupled via evanescent fields from the on-chip silicon waveguide, serve as the basic building block. Overall, the gyroscope design utilizes principles of both mechanical resonators and integrated photonics to address challenges in on-chip light coupling and angular velocity detection for next-generation optomechanical inertial sensors. Numerical simulations demonstrated the optomechanical micro-hemispherical shell resonator gyroscope could attain a calculated scale factor of 77.9 mV/(°/s) and total angle random walk of 0.0662 °/h1/2 for a micro-hemispherical shell mass of 212 ng at an input laser power of 5 mW. These performance metrics suggest the proposed integrated optomechanical gyroscope design holds promise for applications requiring chip-scale inertial navigation, attitude measurement, and stabilization.

Abstract Micro-gyroscopes using micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) and micro-opto-electro-mechanical system (MOEMS) are the new-generation and recently well-developed gyroscopes produced by the combinations of the traditional gyroscope technology and MEMS/MOEMS technologies. According to the working principle and used materials, the newly-reported micro-gyroscopes in recent years include the silicon-based micromechanical vibratory gyroscope, hemispherical resonant gyroscope, piezoelectric vibratory gyroscope, suspended rotor gyroscope, microfluidic gyroscope, optical gyroscope, and atomic gyroscope. According to different sensitive structures, the silicon-based micromechanical vibratory gyroscope can also be divided into double frame type, tuning fork type, vibrating ring type, and nested ring type. For those micro-gyroscopes, in recent years, many emerging techniques are proposed and developed to enhance different aspects of performances, such as the sensitivity, angle random walk (ARW), bias instability (BI), and bandwidth. Therefore, this paper will firstly review the main performances and applications of those newly-developed MEMS/MOEMS gyroscopes, then comprehensively summarize and analyze the latest research progress of the micro-gyroscopes mentioned above, and finally discuss the future development trends of MEMS/MOEMS gyroscopes.

Micro-gyroscopes based on the Coriolis principle are widely employed in inertial navigation, motion control, and vibration analysis applications. Conventional micro-gyroscopes often exhibit limitations, including elevated noise levels and suboptimal performance metrics. Conversely, the advent of cavity optomechanical system technology heralds an innovative approach to micro-gyroscope development. This method enhances the device’s capabilities, offering elevated sensitivity, augmented precision, and superior resolution. This paper presents our main contributions which include a novel dual-frame optomechanical gyroscope, a unique photonic crystal cavity design, and advanced numerical simulation and optimization methods. The proposed design utilizes an optical cavity formed between dual oscillating frames, whereby input rotation induces a measurable phase shift via optomechanical coupling. Actuation of the frames is achieved electrostatically via an interdigitated comb-drive design. Through theoretical modeling based on cavity optomechanics and finite element simulation, the operating principle and performance parameters are evaluated in detail. The results indicate an expected angular rate sensitivity of 22.8 mV/°/s and an angle random walk of 7.1 × 10−5 °/h1/2, representing superior precision to existing micro-electromechanical systems gyroscopes of comparable scale. Detailed analysis of the optomechanical transduction mechanism suggests this dual-frame approach could enable angular vibration detection with resolution exceeding state-of-the-art solutions.