Stabilization of a fiber-optic two-arm interferometer for ultra-short pulse signal processing applications

We experimentally demonstrate a stable ultrafast first-order temporal differentiator using a fiber-optic Michelson interferometer incorporating a simple feedback stabilization control, which is based on dithering a single wavelength cw reference. Feedback control signals are acquired by a phase-lock-loop and used for automatically adjusting and maintaining the resonance wavelength of the differentiator at the pulse center wavelength without dithering or disturbing the interferometer arms. Picosecond odd-symmetry Hermite-Gaussian waveforms using the implemented first-order differentiator have been stably generated. The demonstrated stabilization system should prove useful for a wide range of ultrafast pulse processing and analysis applications based on the use of two-arm interferometers.     

Extrinsic fiber-optic Fabry-Perot interferometer sensor for refractive index measurement of optical glass

A simple fiber-optic sensor based on Fabry-Perot interference for refractive index measurement of optical glass is investigated both theoretically and experimentally. A broadband light source is coupled into an extrinsic fiber Fabry-Perot cavity formed by the surfaces of a sensing fiber end and the measured sample. The interference signals from the cavity are reflected back into the same fiber. The refractive index of the sample can be obtained by measuring the contrast of the interference fringes. The experimental data meet with the theoretical values very well. The proposed technique is a new method for glass refractive index measurement with a simple, solid, and compact structure.     

White-light interferometer with dispersion: an accurate fiber-optic sensor for the measurement of distance

We present a fiber-optical sensor for distance measurement of smooth and rough surfaces that is based on white-light interferometry; the sensor measures the distance from the sample surface to the sensor head. Because white light is used, the measurement is absolute. The measurement uncertainty depends not on the aperture of the optical system but only on the properties of the rough surface and is commonly approximately 1 microm. The measurement range is approximately 1 mm. The sensor includes no mechanical moving parts; mechanical movement is replaced by the spectral decomposition of light at the interferometer output. The absence of mechanical moving parts enables a high measuring rate to be reached.     

Remote displacement measurement using a passive interferometer with a fiber-optic link

Remote displacement measurement is demonstrated using a Fabry-Perot cavity with a multimode optical fiber link. The sensing cavity modulates, as a function of its length, the spectrum of a light-emitting diode (LED). The light returns via the fiber and is analyzed by a tunable reference cavity. A closed-loop control causes the reference cavity to track the sensing cavity length within 2 x 10(-12) m. Displacement range is 2 x 10(-6) m. The reference cavity length is measured interferometrically, using a laser, to obtain the sensing cavity length. Advantages of this sensing technique include compatibility with multimode fiber-optic components, high immunity to optical losses, and large dynamic range.     

Microbubble based fiber-optic Fabry-Perot interferometer formed by fusion splicing single-mode fibers for strain measurement

We demonstrate an all-fiber optical Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) strain sensor whose cavity is a microscopic air bubble. The bubble is formed by fusion splicing together two sections of single-mode fibers (SMFs) with cleaved flat tip and arc fusion induced hemispherical tip, respectively. The fabricated interferometers are with bubble diameters of typically ~100 μm. Strain and temperature sensitivities of fabricated interferometers are studied experimentally; a strain sensitivity of over 4 Pm/με and a thermal sensitivity of less than 0.9 Pm/°C is obtained.     

Reciprocal reflection interferometer for a fiber-optic Faraday current sensor

A reciprocal fiber-optic reflection interferometer for remote measurement of electrical current through the Faraday effect is described. The effects of polarization cross coupling because of nonideal elements are eliminated with a low-coherence source. Nonreciprocal birefringence phase modulation is employed for detection of the Faraday phase shift. The theoretical predictions are confirmed by measurements with a piece of straight fiber as the sensing element in a 100-turn solenoid. Currents from 0 to 40 A have been measured with a linear response and a noise limit of ~0.015 A/√Hz.     

Michelson interferometer for precision angle measurement

An angle-measuring technique based on an optical interferometer is reported. The technique exploits a Michelson interferometric configuration in which a right-angle prism and a glass strip are introduced into a probe beam. Simultaneous rotation of both components along an axis results in an optical path difference between the reference and the probe beams. In a second arrangement two right-angle prisms and glass strips are introduced into two beams of a Michelson interferometer. The prisms and the strips are rotated simultaneously to introduce an optical path difference between the two beams. In our arrangement, optimization of various parameters makes the net optical path difference between the two beams approximately linear for a rotation as great as +/-20 degrees . Results are simulated that show an improvement of 2-3 orders of magnitude in error and nonlinearity compared with a previously reported technique.     

Double-grating interferometer for measurement of cylinder diameters

We describe a double-grating interferometer for the measurement of cylinder diameters. The unique characteristic of this interferometer is that one can freely change the period of the interference fringes by turning the grating, which permits the measurement range of the interferometer also to be changed freely according to the cylinder diameter to be measured. A clear image of the cylinder can be obtained because the aperture diaphragm blocks the beams diffracted from the edge of the cylinder. The outside and inside diameters of the M4 x 0.7 mm hand tap are measured with this double-grating interferometer.     

Scanning laser differential-heterodyne interferometer for flying-height measurement

With conventional optical interferometry flying-height testing, a stationary measurement beam and a two-axis moving stage are used to measure slider-disk spacing at different points on the slider. Pitch angle or roll angle is calculated on the basis of the measurement results. We report on a scanning differential-heterodyne interferometer, which measures the continuous flying-height variation along the edge of a slider with two continuously scanning laser beams. Pitch angle or roll angle can be obtained directly from the scanning measurement. The system can also measure points individually to obtain the absolute flying height at different locations on the slider. Experiments were performed to demonstrate the concept of scanning measurement. The flying-height variation along the slider edge was measured by continuous scan and by point-to-point moving. The measurement results from continuous scan coincided with those of conventional methods.     

Method for exciting fiber-optic resonance sensors

The results are presented of a mathematical modeling of the excitation, by unmodulated laser radiation, of resonance oscillations in silicon micromechanical structures.Translated from Izmeritel'naya Tekhnika, No. 11, pp. 20–21, November, 1995.     

A renewable-reagent fiber-optic sensor for measurement of high acidities

A renewable-reagent fiber-optic HNO(3) sensor was developed for HNO(3) measurement in the 0.1-10.0 M range. The HNO(3) sensor employs a tubular Nafion cation-exchange membrane to extract acid species from an external HNO(3) sample into an internal flowing reagent solution. In high-concentration HNO(3) samples, incomplete HNO(3) dissociation results in a significant concentration of neutral HNO(3) species in addition to protons. As both neutrals and protons are potentially membrane-permeable species, various reagent compositions were tested to examine the contributions of both acid transfer mechanisms. Continuous reagent flow limited internal acid accumulation and transferred reagent to the sensor optical detection cell. All reagent compositions included cresol red as a colorimetric indicator, which was measured within the sensor detection cell. Careful fiber-optic alignment provided sufficient light throughput in a backscatter illumination mode to allow use of a photodiode array detector for visible spectral acquisition. The use of Ca(2+) as a reagent countercation produced notable reductions in HNO(3) sensor response to interferent cations and temperature changes. Sensor measurement of HNO(3) samples in the tested concentration range produced average relative standard deviations of less than 0.4%. Control over reagent flow rate should allow for extension of the HNO(3) sensor measurement range to 16.0 M HNO(3).     

Use of a fiber-optic Mach-Zehnder interferometer for creating a deformometer with extended gage length

The results of studying the peculiarities of use of a fiber-optic Mach-Zehnder interferometer for creating deformometers with extended gage length intended for monitoring the state of large-scale objects are presented. It is shown that the use of a multicoil sensing element provides the possibility of varying its sensitivity and contributes to reduction in the fading of the deformometer’s output signal.     

Dependence of the signal of a multimode fiber-optic interferometer on the mode power distribution

Multimode fiber-optic interferometer (MFI) signals formed under conditions of external actions and a change in the optical power distribution between modes along the fiber have been studied. It is experimentally established that parameters of the MFI signal significantly depend on the number of propagating modes in the region of external action upon the fiber.     

Vibration compensating beam scanning interferometer for surface measurement

Light beam scanning using a dispersive element and wavelength tuning is coupled with fiber-optic interferometry to realize a new surface measurement instrument. The instrument is capable of measuring nanoscale surface structures and form deviations. It features active vibration compensation and a small optical probe size that may be placed remotely from the main apparatus. Active vibration compensation is provided by the multiplexing of two interferometers with near common paths. Closed loop control of a mirror mounted on a piezoelectric transducer is used to keep the path length stable. Experiments were carried out to deduce the effectiveness of the vibration compensation and the ability to carry out a real measurement in the face of large environmental disturbance.     

Three-channel imaging fabry-perot interferometer for measurement of mid-latitude airglow

We have developed a three-channel imaging Fabry-Perot interferometer with which to measure atmospheric wind and temperature in the mesosphere and thermosphere through nocturnal airglow emissions. The interferometer measures two-dimensional wind and temperature for wavelengths of 630.0 nm (OI, altitude, 200-300 km), 557.7 nm (OI, 96 km), and 839.9 nm (OH, 86 km) simultaneously with a time resolution of 20 min, using three cooled CCD detectors with liquid-N(2) Dewars. Because we found that the CCD sensor moves as a result of changes in the level of liquid N(2) in the Dewars, the cooling system has been replaced by thermoelectric coolers. The fringe drift that is due to changes in temperature of the etalon is monitored with a frequency-stabilized He-Ne laser. We also describe a data-reduction scheme for calculating wind and temperature from the observed fringes. The system is fully automated and has been in operation since June 1999 at the Shigaraki Observatory (34.8N, 136.1E), Shiga, Japan.     

Frequency-domain intermodal interferometer for the bandwidth measurement of a multimode fiber

A new bandwidth measurement technique for a multimode optical fiber (MMF) using a frequency-domain intermodal interferometer is proposed. We have demonstrated that the relative modal delay (RMD) of a MMF can be obtained easily and accurately based on an optical frequency-domain reflectometry (OFDR) technique by using an intermodal interference signal among the excited modes of a MMF. As an example, a photonic crystal fiber with a few modes is prepared and its RMD is measured by using our proposed measurement technique. Measurement results are compared with those from a previously reported frequency-domain method. We have also measured the RMD of a commercial MMF as a practical application and compared our result with the one obtained from a well-known time-domain differential mode delay measurement technique.     

Ring interferometer for two-sided measurement of the absolute lengths of end standards

Special features of a two-sided interferometer based on a ring optical scheme previously proposed [V. M. Khavinson and L. F. Khavinson, in Investigations in the Field of Length and Angle Measurements, N. P. Gerasimov, ed., Proceedings of the D. I. Mendeleyev Institute for Metrology (Energoatomizdat, Leningrad, 1983), pp. 14-18], which exploits an alternative measurement method to the conventional method for measuring absolutely the lengths of precision gauge blocks. Both measuring surfaces of a gauge are viewed directly without an auxiliary platen wrung onto one of them. The two-sided method results in improved consistency of measurement results because the elimination of wringing avoids the contact error that can occur in the gauge length obtained when the conventional method is used. A variety of means to control the optical phase differences in the interferometer are considered.     

Optical scanning extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer for absolute microdisplacement measurement

We report an optical-scanning, dual-fiber, extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer system for absolute measurement of microdisplacement. The system involves two air-gapped Fabry-Perot cavities, formed by fiber end faces, functioning as sensing and reference elements. Taking the scanning wavelength as an interconverter to compare the gap length of the sensing head with the reference-cavity length yields the absolute measurement of the sensing-cavity length. The measurement is independent of the wavelength-scanning accuracy, and the reference-cavity length can be self-calibrated simply by one's changing the sensing-head length by an accurate value.     

Modified in-line Sagnac interferometer with passive demodulation technique for environmental immunity of a fiber-optic current sensor

A modified in-line Sagnac interferometer (MISI) with passive demodulation Technique (PDT) was proposed to immunize the fiber-optic current sensor (FOCS) from environmental perturbations. A large vibration to simulate the environmental perturbations with acceleration up to 12 g was applied to the lead fiber of the FOCS. The noise floor could be significantly suppressed (20 dB) by the MISI better than by a conventional interferometer. In the same dynamic environments, the PDT could make the FOCS achieve a good linear demodulation with average distortion rates always lower than 0.9%. In addition, all the sensitivities measured in both static and dynamic environments are all approximately 4.5 murad/(A(rms) turns), which is close to the literatural data measured in static environments. These considerable achievements of high sensitivity, environmental immunity, and free electric shock concerns may lead FOCS's to field-monitoring applications of power delivery lines.