Computer-controlled high-precision Michelson wavemeter

Abstract

The Michelson wavemeter is a popular instrument in many experiments where the high-precision measurement of a cw laser wavelength is required. In this paper, we describe a simple and inexpensive way to obtain high-precision measurements with this classical physicist’s tool. We exploit the time stamp provided by the high-frequency clock present in modern data acquisition cards to measure the fractional uncertainty of the interference signal. The resulting relative uncertainty value for our current set-up is of the order of 10⁻⁸ and can be potentially improved by a factor of 100.