High-performance fully differential photodiode amplifier for miniature fiber-optic gyroscopes

Electrical cross coupling is regarded as a major obstacle to achieving high-performance miniature fiber-optic gyroscopes (FOGs), because it can cause dead bands, which are critical errors in FOGs. Using a differential photodiode amplifier has proven to be effective in rejecting coupled interference. However, the conventional three-op-amp instrumentation amplifier cannot provide a miniature FOG’s bandwidth requirements, because of the large photodiode capacitance and parasitic capacitance. We present a high-performance, fully differential photodiode amplifier, where the bandwidth limitations are removed by applying a reverse bias to the photodiode and replacing the feedback resistor with a modified tee-network and a DC cancellation loop. For an experimental FOG with a 300 m fiber coil, we demonstrate a fully differential photodiode amplifier with 880 kΩ gain and 3.5 MHz bandwidth. In the FOG performance test, it not only reduces the angular random walk and bias drift, but also eliminates the approximately 1°/h dead band observed in the same FOG using a PINFET receiver, demonstrating its effectiveness in suppressing coupled interference.