Recent developments in laser-diode interferometry

Laser-diode (LD) interferometry based on heterodyne techniques is described. The developments covered include: sinusoidal phase- modulating, distance-measuring feedback and phase-shifting interferometry. The wavelength is controlled by the laser injection current and is continuously or stepwise changed to introduce a time-varying phase difference between the two beams of an interferometer with unbalanced optical path lengths. A feedback interferometer is described with electronics to stabilize the phase shift and to lock the interferometer on a preset phase condition by controlling the injection current of the LD. An automated phase-measuring interferometric system is developed in which the laser current is changed to synchronize intensity data acquisition with the clocks of a charge-coupled device. A typical experimental result shows measurements of the profile of a diamond- turned Al surface.     

Instantaneous quadrature low-coherence interferometry with 3 x 3 fiber-optic couplers

We describe fiber-based quadrature low-coherence interferometers that exploit the inherent phase shifts of 3 x 3 and higher-order fiber-optic couplers. We present a framework based on conservation of energy to account for the interferometric shifts in 3 x 3 interferometers, and we demonstrate that the resulting interferometers provide the entire complex interferometric signal instantaneously in homodyne and heterodyne systems. In heterodyne detection we demonstrate the capability for extraction of the magnitude and sign of Doppler shifts from the complex data. In homodyne detection we show the detection of subwavelength sample motion. N x N (N > 2) low-coherence interferometer topologies will be useful in Doppler optical coherence tomography (OCT), optical coherence microscopy, Fourier-domain OCT, optical frequency domain reflectometry, and phase-referenced interferometry.     

一种探测光纤BSBS温敏效应的新方法

一种探测光纤ＢＳＢＳ温敏效应的新方法黄民双（长沙铁道学院长沙４１００７５）刘邦群（武汉大学物理学系武汉４３００７２）ＡＮｅｗＤｅｔｅｃｔｉｏｎＭｅｔｈｏｄｏｆＯｐｔｉｃａｌＦｉｂｅｒＴｈｅｒｍａｌｙＳｅｎｓｉｔｉｖｅＥｆｅｃｔｕｓｉｎｇＢＳＢＳＡｂｓ...     

调Q激光光折变自适应光外差探测技术研究

基于光折变晶体中自泵浦与互泵浦相位共轭共存效应,利用新型光折变自适应光外差探测系统进行了调Q脉冲激光的光折变自适应光外差探测技术研究.结果表明,该系统可以用来实现单纵模调Q脉冲激光的自适应光外差探测,并可以通过提高本振光强度有效地提高外差探测灵敏度.进一步的实验和理论分析表明,对于一般的调Q脉冲激光,由于其各个纵模频谱分量之间不相关,难于实现光外差探测.     

Application of the Raman heterodyne technique for the detection of EPR and ENDOR

Raman heterodyne detection is a coherent optical-RF double resonance technique where the optical and RF fields induce coherence within a three level system and a resultant Raman field is measured using heterodyne detection. This approach has been used previously to detect NMR and more recently EPR. In this paper the parameters that affect the amplitude and signal to noise ratio of the Raman heterodyne signals are considered. The power levels in relation to the oscillator strength and dephasing times, the amplitude and spectrum of the laser frequency jitter in relation to the optical homogeneous linewidths and holeburning rates, and the sample properties such as absorption strength and optical quality, are all factors that affect the Raman signal. The presentation is focused on the Raman heterodyne detected EPR of the nitrogen-vacancy pair centre in diamond making comparisons with Raman heterodyne detected NMR signals obtained for rare earth ion systems. RF-RF double resonance studies, RF holeburning and ENDOR, which give information about the hyperfine levels are also reported for the nitrogen-vacancy centre. The resonance frequencies are in agreement with those predicted from the spin Hamiltonian. The factors affecting the lineshapes and relative intensities of the double resonance signals are discussed.     

Laser optical fibre heterodyne interferometer with frequency indicating of the phase shift of a light signal in an optical waveguide

Self-sustained oscillations in a laser optical fibre heterodyne interferometer are discussed; oscillations were produced by closing into a loop the single-mode optical fibres of the interferometer. Such oscillatory systems are shown to feature high-frequency stability. It is proposed to use this oscillating interferometer as a high-sensitivity sensor of external factors affecting the optical waveguide.     

空间外差拉曼光谱仪成像镜头光机热集成分析

便携式空间外差拉曼光谱仪集成了光学功能镜头、干涉仪组件,以及探测器和激光器等热辐射器件,因此仪器在使用过程中存在着较为复杂的热环境,环境温度变化导致光学系统性能下降。采用光机热集成分析方法,重点研究了环境温度及热辐射器件对关键器件成像镜头的性能影响。在便携式空间外差拉曼光谱仪光学和结构方案设计的基础上,建立热-结构耦合模型;仿真得到成像功能镜头内镜片的间距和面形的变化,并利用Zernike多项式拟合其变化;将拟合结果代入光学设计软件中进行成像质量评估和分析。结果表明,在使用环境温度(-10℃~40℃)范围内,调制传递函数在光谱仪截止频率76.9 lp/mm处对比度均优于0.38,满足便携式空间外差拉曼光谱仪的使用要求。     

Heterodyne interferometric polarization coherent anti‐Stokes Raman scattering (HIP‐CARS) spectroscopy

We demonstrate a new technique that combines polarization sensitivity of the coherent anti‐Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) response with heterodyne amplification for background‐free detection of CARS signals. In this heterodyne interferometric polarization CARS (HIP‐CARS), the major drawbacks of polarization and heterodyne CARS are rectified. Using a home‐built picosecond optical parametric oscillator, we are able to address vibrational stretches between 600 and 1650 cm⁻¹ and record continuous high‐resolution Raman equivalent HIP‐CARS spectra. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The reference range for atmospheric backscatter lidar

The concept of the reference range, a parameter used to characterize the ranging capability of radar systems, is applied to atmospheric backscatter lidar employing direct detection and optical heterodyne receivers. Use of the reference range is suggested for system evaluation in this area.     

Evaluation of coherent homodyne and heterodyne optical CDMA structures

This paper evaluates the coherent optical code-division multiple-access (OCDMA) techniques and examines the overall system performance in terms of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) penalty as a function of simultaneous users accommodated to maintain an appropriate value of the bit-error rate (BER) for homodyne and heterodyne detections. As spreading codes, the proposed structures are utilizing a recently introduced prime code family hereby referred to as double-padded modified prime code (DPMPC). As a coherent modulation, binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) format is deployed. In homodyne detection, two different phase modulations are studied including either an external phase-modulator or injection-locking methods. The phase limitation and the performance for two methods plus multiple-access interferences (MAI) and receiver noise in a shot-noise limited regime are investigated. In heterodyne detection, BER analysis of the system based on only external phase modulator is examined. It is found that by maintaining BER = 10⁻⁹, this system can accommodate an increased number of simultaneous users to compare with systems which employ conventional bipolar codes.     

双波长外腔半导体激光器的研究

提出了电流调制型的双波长外腔半导体激光器方案。外腔半导体激光器具有窄线宽输出以及独特的阶越型电流调制特性,采用正弦调制的方式,以延时光纤作为辅助结构,得到了具有良好相干特性和稳定波长间隔的双波长激光输出。与多种已有的双波长激光器设计方案相比,这种多波长工作方式结构简单,调谐范围宽,在波分复用光通信系统、高精度光纤传感测量以及外差、双(多)波长合成波长干涉测量等技术中具有很好的应用前景。     

U-shaped optical fiber sensor based on multiple total internal reflections in heterodyne interferometry

In this paper, an optical fiber sensor based on multiple total internal reflections (MTIRs) in heterodyne interferometry is proposed. With the optical fiber sensor the phase shift difference due to the multiple total internal reflections effect between the p- and s-polarizations is measured by using heterodyne interferometry. Substituting the phase shift difference into Fresnel's equations, the refractive index for the tested medium can be calculated. The resolution of the sensor can reach 1.6×10^?6 refractive index unit (RIU). The optical fiber sensor could be valuable for chemical, biological and biochemical sensing. It has some merits, such as, high resolution and stability, high sensitivity, high resolution and real-time measurement.     

Holographic Three-Dimensional Display Using an Electron-Beam-Addressed Spatial Light Modulator

Three-dimensional (3-D) or holographic information extracted by two-dimensional active optical heterodyne scanning has been demonstrated recently. The technique is called optical scanning holography. To reconstruct the obtainable 3-D holographic information, digital techniques have been used and demonstrated. For real-time applications, we need to investigate spatial-light-modulator-based systems. In this paper, we first briefly review optical scanning holography, and then present experimental results of 3-D image reconstruction using an electron-beam-addressed spatial light modulator.     

孔径透射率调制对外差探测的影响

信号光与本地光的夹角是影响探测器输出外差信号强度的主要因素。当夹角过大时,甚至不能检测到外差信号。通过分析提出,外差信号的振幅实际上是接收孔径透射率函数的傅里叶变换,以此为依据提出一种降低失配角对外差信号影响的方法,即在接收孔径处放置透射率分布满足一定函数形式的透过型元件,使其傅里叶频谱满足预定的要求,这种情况下两光束夹角增大时,探测器输出的外差信号强度能得到增强,从而降低了对探测系统瞄准精度的要求。     

Measurement of small displacement based on surface plasmon resonance heterodyne interferometry

This paper proposes an optical method for measuring small displacements using the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) heterodyne interferometry. A heterodyne light beam reflected by a mirror passes through a hemisphere glass and then enters into a surface plasmon resonance apparatus at the resonant angle. A small displacement of the mirror will introduce a phase-difference variation between p- and s-polarizations of the light emerging from the SPR apparatus. The phase-difference variation can be precisely measured with the heterodyne interferometric technique, and the associated displacement can be estimated. The feasibility of this method was verified by experiment, and the displacement measurement resolution of about 1.4 nm over a traveling range of 6 μm was achieved. Our method of measurement has the merits of both common-path interferometry and heterodyne interferometry.     

Optimal interferometer designs for optical coherence tomography

We introduce a family of power-conserving fiber-optic interferometer designs for low-coherence reflectometry that use optical circulators, unbalanced couplers, and (or) balanced heterodyne detection. Simple design equations for optimization of the signal-to-noise ratio of the interferometers are expressed in terms of relevant signal and noise sources and measurable system parameters. We use the equations to evaluate the expected performance of the new configurations compared with that of the standard Michelson interferometer that is commonly used in optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems. The analysis indicates that improved sensitivity is expected for all the new interferometer designs, compared with the sensitivity of the standard OCT interferometer, under high-speed imaging conditions.     

Digital phase-shifting interferometer with an electrically addressed liquid-crystal spatial light modulator

A digital phase-shifting interferometer with a liquid-crystal-display coupled, parallel aligned, nematic liquid-crystal spatial light modulator is developed. The optical phase shift in the Michelson-type polarization interferometer is achieved by a digital phase shift of a grating displayed on the spatial light modulator. Accurate experimental results of using the heterodyne system for pi/2 phase steps were demonstrated. A phase-shifting interferometer with no moving parts and no requirement for calibration of the value of the phase shift was achieved.     

Studies of phase characteristics of various photon echoes with a phase sensitive detection method

Various optical coherent transient signals in ruby have been examined by using an optical phase sensitive detection (PSD) technique. The PSD is performed by comparing the phase of the heterodyne beat signals obtained by the Stark switching technique with that of a local oscillator whose frequency is equal to the heterodyne beat frequency. The optical FID, two-pulse photon echoes, radiation locked echoes and notched echoes have been detected as υ-mode signals with small u-mode signals probably due to the asymmetry of the inhomogeneous broadening. The dependence of the phase of the radiation locked and notched echoes upon the driving pulses is also examined. The experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions based on Bloch equations.     

Investigation of glass panels thickness profile by all-fiber digital heterodyne interferometry

All-fiber digital heterodyne interferometry is a laser metrology technique employing pseudo-random codes phase modulated onto an optical carrier signal. In this heterodyne interferometer system, the optical signal includes signal reflected and transmitted from the sample, respectively. Compared with the conventional heterodyne interferometry, this enhanced optical system has much higher measurement sensitivity, and can distinguish the signal which reflected from the front and the rear surface of the sample. Analysis and simulation for the digital heterodyne interferometry are presented. It takes approximately 4 s to scan the whole surface with the diameter of 300 mm. The thickness profile of the sample is obtained in the experiment. The discussion about the experiment is given finally.     

光外差调制法提高全光纤低相干传感器的灵敏度

本文提出的光外差调制法用于提高空间解调低相干光纤传感器峰顶位置的分辨率,由此提高系统的测量灵敏度.未采用光外差调制法前的杨氏空间解调低相干光纤位移传感器的测量灵敏度为0.12μm;而采用后可达0.033μm.