Long distance measurement with femtosecond pulses using a dispersive interferometer

We experimentally demonstrate long distance measurements with a femtosecond frequency comb laser using dispersive interferometry. The distance is derived from the unwrapped spectral phase of the dispersed interferometer output and the repetition frequency of the laser. For an interferometer length o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Optics express 2011-03, Vol.19 (7), p.6549-6562
Main Authors: Cui, M, Zeitouny, M G, Bhattacharya, N, van den Berg, S A, Urbach, H P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algorithms
Equipment Design
Equipment Failure Analysis
Interferometry - instrumentation
Lasers
Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted - instrumentation
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Summary:We experimentally demonstrate long distance measurements with a femtosecond frequency comb laser using dispersive interferometry. The distance is derived from the unwrapped spectral phase of the dispersed interferometer output and the repetition frequency of the laser. For an interferometer length of 50 m this approach has been compared to an independent phase counting laser interferometer. The obtained mutual agreement is better than 1.5 μm (3×10(-8)), with a statistical averaging of less than 200 nm. Our experiments demonstrate that dispersive interferometry with a frequency comb laser is a powerful method for accurate and non-incremental measurement of long distances.
ISSN:1094-4087
1094-4087
DOI:10.1364/OE.19.006549