Currently there is considerable interest in the application of optical meth­ ods for the measurement of absolute rotation. Active approaches, so-called ring laser gyros, have been under serious development for at least 15 years. More recently, passive approaches using ring resonators or multi turn fiber interferometers have also demonstrated much pro~ise. The only previous conference devoted exclusively to optical rotation sensors, held in 1978 in San Diego, California, was organized by the Society of Photo-optical Instru­ mentation Engineers(S.P.I.E.J. Although the main emphasis at that conference was on ring laser gyros, a number of papers were also included that described the early development of fiber gyroscopes. Since