Optical vortex is a new structured light field that carries orbital angular momentum and has a helical wave vibration surface. Since Allen et al. first proved in 1992 that a light field with a spiral phase factor had orbital angular momentum under paraxial conditions, optical vortex has received much attention because of its wide applications in the fields of optical manipulation, optical communication, optical measurement, and remote sensing. Especially in recent years, the application of optical vortex in the field of inertial measurement has attracted the research interest of many scholars. This article mainly involves three aspects: the research progress of optical vortex generation; the key applications of optical vortex in the field of inertial measurement, specifically the rotating Doppler effect and quantum gyros based on optical vortex. New requirements of inertial measurement on the generation of optical vortex were also discussed.