Title: Real-time absolute distance measurement by comb-based generation of multiple wavelengths

Authors: Sangwon Hyun; Young-Jin Kim; Byung Jae Chun; Seung-Woo Kim

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Science Town, Daejeon, 305-701, South Korea ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Science Town, Daejeon, 305-701, South Korea ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Science Town, Daejeon, 305-701, South Korea ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Science Town, Daejeon, 305-701, South Korea

Abstract: We present a novel scheme of exploiting the frequency comb of a femtosecond laser as the wavelength ruler for real-time measurement of absolute distances. Four different wavelengths are simultaneously generated in parallel to perform absolute distance measurements by means of multi-wavelength interferometry at an update rate of 100 Hz. When compared to commercial laser interferometers, the proposed scheme shows a discrepancy of 32 nm on average in measuring a ∼2.3 m distance, proving to be a competitive tool for industrial applications.

Keywords: absolute distance measurement; optical frequency generation; frequency comb; femtosecond lasers; multi-wavelength interferometer; optical standards; multiple wavelengths; wavelength rulers; laser interferometers.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNM.2012.051107

International Journal of Nanomanufacturing, 2012 Vol.8 No.5/6, pp.432 - 440

Received: 17 Jan 2012
Accepted: 28 Jul 2012
Published online: 21 Aug 2014 *

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