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Absolute Distance Meter Operating on a Free-Running Mode-Locked Laser for Space Mission

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Abstract

We report a working prototype of absolute distance meter developed for outer-space operation by incorporating a fiber-type modelocked laser. The target distance is measured using a 1 GHz synthetic radio frequency (~0.3 m wavelength) provided by the 20th intermode harmonic of a 50 MHz pulse repetition rate. The measurement repeatability is 7 μm at 1 s averaging with an accuracy of ±20 μm for a 2.5 m target distance. With a 100 Hz update rate, the measurement speed is fast enough to keep track of the target in motion with up to a 1.0 m/s velocity. The prototype is built within a compact volume of A4-size footprint to be feasible for the space mission of satellite-to-satellite distance measurement.

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Abbreviations

SWI:

synthetic wavelength interferometer

IDM:

incremental-type displacement measurement

ADM:

absolute distance measurement

L :

measured distance

PD:

photo diode

CL:

collimating lens

HWP:

half wave plate

PBS:

polarization beam splitter

QWP:

quarter wave plate

RR:

retro reflector

FSM:

fast steering mirror

PSD:

position sensitive detector

HPF:

high pass filter

BM:

balanced mixer

LPF:

low pass filter

AMP:

RF amplifier

LO:

local oscillator

FPGA:

field programmable gate array

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ultrafast Optics for Ultra-Precision Group, Department of Mechanical Engineering, KAIST, 291, Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea

    Yoon-Soo Jang, Wooram Kim, Heesuk Jang & Seung-Woo Kim

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  1. Yoon-Soo Jang
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  2. Wooram Kim
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  3. Heesuk Jang
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  4. Seung-Woo Kim
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Correspondence to Seung-Woo Kim.

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Jang, YS., Kim, W., Jang, H. et al. Absolute Distance Meter Operating on a Free-Running Mode-Locked Laser for Space Mission. Int. J. Precis. Eng. Manuf. 19, 975–981 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12541-018-0115-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12541-018-0115-y

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