Experimental demonstration of distance measurement with a femtosecond frequency comb laser

Cui, M.; Schouten, R. N.; Bhattacharya, Nandini; Berg, S. A. van den

doi:10.2971/jeos.2008.08003

Cited by 62 publications

(32 citation statements)

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“…[8] The optical frequency comb of a femtosecond pulse laser, which directly traces to the Rb clock of well-defined radio-frequency (RF) time standard, [9] can be used for calibrating the optical frequency of standard laser by either flexible tuning of an external-cavity laser diode (ECLD) to the optical comb [1,[10][11][12] or strict locking of single-wavelength lasers to the selected modes of the optical comb . [13,14] Another technique is to use a femtosecond pulse laser directly as light source to develop a variety of interferometry, [8] including repetition frequency harmonics, [15] coherence interferometry by changing the pulse repetition rate of femtosecond pulses, [16][17][18] dispersive interferometry relying on the spectrum of femtosecond pulses, [19] heterodyne interferometer using a slightly different pulse repetition rate optical frequency comb pair, [20] and time-of-flight measurement by varying the pulse repetition rate of femtosecond pulses. [08,21] The common goal of these technologies is to extend the sub-wavelength precision in a wide range through the use of the optical frequency comb of a femtosecond laser.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The SRI method based on the optical frequency comb on absolute distance measurement

et al. 2011

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A novel absolute distance measurement method based on the optical frequency comb of the Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser was presented. In the spectrally-resolved interferometry (SRI), all modes interference signals of the optical frequency comb was obtained by the femtosecond light pulses traveling along different optical path between the reference and measurement arms. The interference intensity in the frequency domain was inverse Fourier-transformed into the time domain, and the phase peak was isolated by use of an appropriate Hamming window, then the phase difference which was caused by the distance was resolved in the frequency domain. The simulation results indicated that this algorithm could satisfy the demand of the small scale profile measurement with the non-ambiguity range of millimeter level, and the resolution of nanometer level. Furthermore, combined with the conventional phase ranging method, the max measurement distance of our method can be extended to several dozen meters.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The SRI method based on the optical frequency comb on absolute distance measurement

et al. 2011

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“…These unique properties allow the frequency comb to be applied as a versatile tool, not only for time and frequency metrology [4][5][6][7], but also in fundamental physics [8,9], high-precision spectroscopy [10][11][12], and laser noise characterization [13][14][15]. The pulse-to-pulse phase relationship of the light emitted by the frequency comb has opened up new directions for long range highly accurate distance measurement [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. For nondispersive media an arbitrary plane wave pulse would propagate unaltered in shape at the phase velocity of the wave field in the medium.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From a discrete to a continuous model for interpulse interference with a frequency-comb laser

et al. 2010

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We have investigated correlation patterns generated by a frequency-comb laser in a dispersive unbalanced Michelson interferometer and apply the developed formalism to the case of distance metrology. Due to group velocity dispersion, the position of the brightest fringe of the correlation pattern, which is used for distance determination, cannot be derived by simply using the definition of group refractive index of the dispersive medium. It is shown that the discrete spectrum of the optical frequency comb gives rise to correlation functions which can be represented by a series, namely a discrete correlation series. We have developed a general formalism, valid for any pulse train, extending the discrete model to a continuous model of cross-correlation functions using the Poisson summation. Our model is relevant for any offset and repetition frequency of the frequency comb. From the continuous cross-correlation model we show that, even for a homogeneous dispersive medium the position of the brightest fringe varies nonlinearly for small delay distances and stabilizes for longer ones. We have compared the theoretical results to measurements of pulse propagation in air for path-lengths up to 200 m.

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“…The scheme is based on a Michelsontype interferometry with optical interference between individual pulses. The technique proposed by Ye has been demonstrated for interferometric measurement of short displacement [2,3]. The main advantage of applying a frequency comb for distance measurement is the large range of nonambiguity, which is determined by the cavity length of the pulsed laser, ranging from about 30 cm to 3 m. It is thus not necessary to rely on incremental measurement of the optical phase.…”

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confidence: 99%

High-accuracy long-distance measurements in air with a frequency comb laser

Cui¹,

Zeitouny²,

Bhattacharya³

et al. 2009

Opt. Lett.

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We experimentally demonstrate that a femtosecond frequency comb laser can be applied as a tool for longdistance measurement in air. Our method is based on the measurement of cross correlation between individual pulses in a Michelson interferometer. From the position of the correlation functions, distances of up to 50 m have been measured. We have compared this measurement to a counting laser interferometer, showing an agreement with the measured distance within 2 m (4 ϫ 10 −8 at 50 m). © 2009 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 320.7100, 320.2250, 320.1590 Traditional techniques for long-distance measurements are often based on optical interferometry when the demands on accuracy rise. Most of these interferometric techniques rely on incremental measurements of phase accumulation. A priori knowledge of the distance to be measured is required or a complex multiwavelength system may be needed. In 2004, Ye [1] proposed a simple scheme for measuring long distances in space with a stabilized femtosecond frequency comb. The scheme is based on a Michelsontype interferometry with optical interference between individual pulses. The technique proposed by Ye has been demonstrated for interferometric measurement of short displacement [2,3]. The main advantage of applying a frequency comb for distance measurement is the large range of nonambiguity, which is determined by the cavity length of the pulsed laser, ranging from about 30 cm to 3 m. It is thus not necessary to rely on incremental measurement of the optical phase. The ambiguity is easily overcome by, e.g., a laser distance meter. The stabilized frequency comb has been applied as a source in various distance measurement schemes [4,5]. In this Letter, we demonstrate distance measurements of up to 50 m in air by analyzing the cross correlation between pulses emitted from a stabilized frequency comb source. We have implemented a model of pulse propagation in air to account for the effect of air dispersion on the measured cross-correlation functions. The measurement results obtained with the frequency comb and a conventional counting laser interferometer are compared.A mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser is the frequency comb source, with both the repetition frequency and the carrier-envelop offset (CEO) frequency referenced to a cesium atomic clock (Fig. 1). The pulse duration is 40 fs, and the repetition rate f r is locked at approximately 1 GHz, corresponding to a pulse to pulse distance l pp = c / ͑n g f r ͒ of 30 cm. Here c is the speed of light in vacuum and n g is the group refractive index at the center wavelength. The CEO frequency f 0 is fixed at 180 MHz. The center wavelength of the pulses is 815 nm, with an FWHM of about 20 nm. After collimation the beam is sent to a Michelson interferometer. One part of the beam is reflected by a hollow corner cube mounted on a piezoelectric transducer (PZT) along the short reference arm. The length of the short arm can be scanned by a translation stage. The other part of the beam is reflected by two mirrors and propagates along...

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Experimental demonstration of distance measurement with a femtosecond frequency comb laser

Cited by 62 publications

References 10 publications

The SRI method based on the optical frequency comb on absolute distance measurement

The SRI method based on the optical frequency comb on absolute distance measurement

From a discrete to a continuous model for interpulse interference with a frequency-comb laser

High-accuracy long-distance measurements in air with a frequency comb laser

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