Tuning of a Ti3+:sapphire laser by an electro-optic beam deflection method

A wavelength-switching method for tuning a self-injection-seeded Ti3+:sapphire laser that uses an electro-optic beam deflection technique is reported. A LiNbO3 prism was employed in a tuning arm of the dual-cavity Ti3+:sapphire laser, and wavelength tuning of approximately 94 pm was attained by altering the deflection angle with the application of an electric field of 10 kV/cm to the prism. The spectral characteristics of the output laser were mainly determined by the diffraction grating in the dual-cavity laser, and the electro-optic prism just behaved as a light-beam deflector for the wavelength tuning purpose. This configuration can allow a simple tuning approach where fast and stable electronic wavelength switching is required in a narrow tuning range, on an order between a few tens of picometers to nanometers, without involving any mechanical movement.     

Influences of pyramid prism deflection on inversion of wind velocity and temperature in a novel static polarization wind imaging interferometer

The principle of the novel static polarization wind imaging interferometer (NSPWII) [Acta Opt. Sin. 28, 700 (2008)] based on a pyramid prism is described. Since the measured wind velocity and temperature depend on the transmittance of the pyramid prism, the deflection of the prism introduced by vibration would produce some measuring errors. In this paper, with an assumed deflection case, we analyze its influence on the derived wind velocity and temperature theoretically. The relative error of the inversion temperature and variety of the inversion velocity as they changed with the deflection angle are discussed.     

Beam splitter for a wide-angle Michelson Doppler imaging interferometer

The design and construction of a hexagonal interferometer beam splitting prism is described in which the light falls onto the all-dielectric partially reflecting coating at an angle of 300 with respect to the normal. For a beam that undergoes one transmission and one reflection by the device, the average effective transmittance 1/2 (T(parallel)R(parallel) + T(perpendicular)R(perpendicular)) in the 0.55-0.75-microm spectral region is approximately 0.23. This quantity is not strongly dependent on the plane of polarization of the incident light, nor on small changes of the angle of incidence from the design angle of 30 degrees. Ways to improve further the performance of the beam splitter are indicated. Coating designs for other angles of incidence are also given.     

Generation of inhomogeneously polarized laser beams by use of a Sagnac interferometer

A principal scheme for an external cavity technique for changing the polarization of a laser beam based on a modified Sagnac interferometer is proposed. The modified Sagnac interferometer includes standard optical components: a displacement polarizing beam splitter, an angle reflector, and a Dove prism. The radially polarized beams, obtained with the help of the developed scheme, allow the generation of a longitudinally polarized electric field by sharp focusing. The phase correction of radially polarized modes of higher orders leads to increasing the longitudinal field in the focus of the beam.     

Influence of laser array performance on spectrally combined beam

Abstract

Incoherent spectral beam combining (SBC) of multiple laser beams is accomplished along the emitters’ arraying direction. Considering that the output beams from a laser array (LA) usually have deflection angles, positional displacements and divergence angles even after being collimated, a propagation model of SBC systems based on multilayer dielectric gratings has been built up. On the basis, properties of the spectrally combined beam affected by parameters of the LA have been discussed in detail. Simulation results show that with the increase in the deflection angle, both the power and the beam quality of the combined beam degrade dramatically. The positional displacement has little impact on the intensity distribution and the beam quality of combined beam but change the wavelength composition of the combined beam. The divergence angle strongly affects the intensity distribution and the beam quality of the combined beam. Additionally, the effect of the deflection angle on the output beam quality is more obvious and may shift the beam spot when comparing with that of the divergence angle.     

Self-referenced prism deflection measurement schemes with microradian precision

We have demonstrated several inexpensive methods that can be used to measure the deflection angles of prisms with microradian precision. The methods are self-referenced, where various reversals are used to achieve absolute measurements without the need of a reference prism or any expensive precision components other than the prisms under test. These techniques are based on laser interferometry and have been used in our laboratory to characterize parallel-plate beam splitters, penta prisms, right-angle prisms, and corner cube reflectors using only components typically available in an optics laboratory.     

激光束角漂移对双频激光直线度测量的影响

利用惠更斯关于波面传播的理论，分析计算了双频激光渥拉斯顿棱镜直线度测量系统中激光束角漂移以及渥拉斯顿棱镜和双面反射镜倾角对测量精度的影响，得到了相应的结论。     

Small-angle measurement by use of a single prism

A new method of angle measurement based on the internal reflection effect is proposed that uses a single right-angle prism. We measure the angular displacement between a laser beam and the prism by detecting the changes in reflectance as a function of the angle of incidence. We achieve high linearity of measurement by taking the inverse of reflectance as the output. The inverse of reflectance is obtained from the intensities of the reflected and the transmitted beams measured by two photodiodes. Experiments with a prototype device have demonstrated that angle measurement with a range of ?500 arc sec, a nonlinearity error of ?0.1%, and a resolution of 0.1 arc sec can be readily achieved. The measurement range can be further increased with some sacrifice of linearity.     

Flat-field postobjective polygon scanner

A general two-dimensional ray-trace analysis is presented for the motion of a geometric focal point over a flat surface provided by a postobjective rotating polygon laser beam scanner. The exact defocus equation is derived for any value of the neutral scan position deflection angle and the polygon rotation angle. The scan nonlinearity is derived for the special case of a zero neutral scan deflection angle. Geometric parameters were found that reduce the peak-to-peak defocus by more than an order of magnitude from that found in previous design approaches. Conditions were also found that reduce scan nonlinearity to less than 2 × 10(-4). Practical limitations, such as large polygons and beam obscurations, encountered in the implementation of postobjective scanning are discussed.     

Differential schlieren-interferometry with a simple adjustable Wollaston-like prism

An adjustable Wollaston-like prism is characterized for use in shearing- and differential schlieren-interferometry with laser and white-light illumination. We demonstrate that a polycarbonate prism under mechanical loading behaves identically to Wollaston's classical birefringent beam splitter. A linear relationship is found between the pure bending moment applied to the polycarbonate prism and the resulting light-beam-divergence angle. The utility of this prism in shearing-interferometry is shown by using it in place of the knife-edge in small and large schlieren optical systems. It is inexpensive to fabricate, and it yields adjustable beam-divergence angles over a range of at least 0-24 arc min.     

CO2激光器虚共焦腔凸面镜失调的实验研究

高功率激光器工作时，由于谐振腔反射镜上的光强分布不均匀，会导致镜面温度不均匀，从而造成镜面的角向偏转，致使激光器光轴发生偏转，严重影响输出光束质量，甚至造成不出光。文中主要从实验研究了CO2激光器虚共焦腔凸面镜失调对激光器输出光束质量的影响，实验结果表明，当凸面镜失调角接近于由理论计算而得的失调临界角时，输出光斑约为半个圆环，与理论分析非常符合，当凸面镜失调角达到约为失调临界角的4．5倍时，完全停止振荡。     

Wollaston棱镜方位对激光干涉测量精度的影响

在双频激光干涉测量系统中,Ｗｏｌｌａｓｔｏｎ棱镜是不可缺少的重要光学元件,它可将双频激光按偏振方向分为测量光和参考光,从而实现高精度测量;但是,如果Ｗｏｌｌａｓｔｏｎ棱镜的安装方位相对入射光线方向以及与聚集透镜距离不同时,测量结果将会不同。本文结合表面粗糙度激光测量系统,从理论上定量分析了Ｗｏｌｌａｓｔｏｎ棱镜的安装方位对测量精度的影响。     

一种高灵敏度传感器：—四棱镜光点检测器

本文介绍一种用于激光准直高精度直线度测量的高灵敏度光电信号检测器,该检测器根据激光束腰处聚焦光斑点小的特点,采用一种四棱镜光点会聚式检测器来接收激光束信息,它的检测灵敏度比传统的四棱镜式四象限位敏传感器高出一个数量级以上;该检测器对激光束平行漂移与角漂移表现出不同的检出特征,因而尤适合于做为激光束漂移补偿检测和直线度误差检测;该检测器还具有结构简单、使用方便等优点。     

Nonpolarizing beam splitter designed by frustrated total internal reflection inside a glass cube

A method for the design of an all-dielectric nonpolarizing prism beam splitter utilizing the principle of frustrated total internal reflection is reported. The nonpolarizing condition for a prism beam splitter is discussed, and some single layer design examples are elaborated. The concept can be applied to a wide range of wavelengths and arbitrary transmittance values, and with the help of a computer design program examples of 400-700 nm, T(p)=T(s)=0.5+/-0.01, with incident angles of 45 degrees and 62 degrees are given. In addition, the sensitivity and application of the design are also discussed.     

“Thermal Mirror” Method for Measuring Physical Properties of Multilayered Coatings

In this study theoretical principles underlying the photothermal displacement (“thermal mirror”) method for measuring physical properties of opaque multilayered and functionally graded coatings with low thermal conductivity are analyzed. In this method, the specimen is locally heated by a power laser beam, and a two-dimensional transient temperature field is formed in a specimen. The physical basis for the photothermal displacement method is the non-stationary buckling and displacement of an irradiated surface due to a non-uniform thermal expansion. The surface is monitored by a low-power probe beam of a second laser, which is reflected from the specimen, i.e., the system operates as a convex “thermal mirror.” The photoinduced displacement varies with time, and the probe beam is reflected at a different angle depending on the slope of the displacement. The deflection angle is measured as a function of time by a position sensor, and the results of these measurements are compared with the theoretical dependence of the deflection angle on time and physical properties of a coating. This dependence was determined analytically from the solution of the two-dimensional thermal elasticity problem. It is shown that for the specimen composed of a substrate and a coating it is feasible to determine the properties of the coating, e.g., the thermal diffusivity and coefficient of linear thermal expansion provided that the analogous properties of the substrate are previously measured or otherwise known.     

Optical transmittance measurement system for coated elements with low transmittance

The low-transmittance elements required for a high power laser facility have stringent specifications about transmittance. To validate optic performance against specifications, a metrology system for transmittance is proposed. The system is composed of a laser source, an integrating sphere, a power meter, and four uncoated wedged glasses. A relative measurement method is adopted, which is that the surface reflectivity of uncoated glass is used as the reference to compare with the sample's transmittance. The systematic feature is that uncoated wedged glasses are applied to split and reflect beams, which not only avoid coating errors, but also make the two beam powers attenuate properly. Measurement results for a sample's transmittance are presented. Experiment and analysis show that the relative standard uncertainty (σ(T)/T) of measurement is 0.424%. This system is available for large-aperture elements.     

基于倾角测试的桥梁变形实时监测研究

对基于结构的倾角测试能实时、精确得到结构变形,以悬臂梁及简支梁为例,推导倾角与挠度间关系,利用MATLAB编程工具对倾角进行积分、拟合得到结构变形,并通过钢梁加载试验与实测挠度进行对比,通过健康监测工程实例介绍倾角仪在变形监测中的应用。分析表明,建立的倾角和变形间关系合理可行,不同结构进行变形监测需考虑边界条件;基于MATLAB对倾角拟合挠度曲线过程简单,与实测挠度吻合较好;在桥梁健康监测系统中用倾角仪对结构进行变形监测,可得结构实时变形曲线与任一时刻变形规律。     

Error sources and their impact on the performance of dual-wedge beam steering systems

This paper presents analytical and numerical results that elucidate the impact of error sources on the performance of dual-wedge beam steering systems. Different types of error sources are considered. Specifically, we investigate optical distortions in the pattern scanned out by a single ray through a pair of rotatable wedge elements with slightly different parameters. Case examples are given to reveal the difference between the distorted patterns and the patterns produced by a pair of perfectly equal wedge elements. Furthermore, nonparaxial ray tracing is performed to investigate the impact of assembly errors on the accuracy of steering a laser beam to a remote target. We found that a misalignment in a bearing axis of rotation with respect to the system optical axis will result in a change of beam deflection off-axis that gives rise to a severe decrease of pointing accuracy to a level well below the level that a tilted wedge prism may attain.     

Research on a scanner for tilting orthogonal double prisms

The original scanner for tilting orthogonal double prisms is studied to test the tracking performance in intersatellite laser communications. With a reduction ratio of more than 100 times from the change rate of the angle of beam deviation to that of the tilting angle of each prism, the theoretical analysis performed, as well as the verification experiment, indicates that the scanner can meet the requirements of the scanning accuracy superior to 0.5 microrad with the scanning range greater than 500 microrad and can facilitate the mechanical structure design.     

新型火炮缠角测量系统设计

提出了一种基于投影法的新型火炮缠角测量系统。该系统主要由照明光源、反射锥镜、CCD相机和驱动机构组成。首先，用光源把身管内壁照亮，然后经过锥镜反射后内壁在CCD相机中成像，最后对该数字图像进行分析，计算得到缠角。本文阐述了测量火炮缠角的计算方法、系统硬件配置及软件设计，最后对该方法的技术特点进行了总结。