High-speed endless optical polarization stabilization using calibrated waveplates and field-programmable gate array-based digital controller

A truly endless polarization stabilization experiment with a tracking speed of 15 krad/s is presented. The high-speed polarization tracking is realized by using calibrated lithium niobate linear retardation waveplates as the polarization transformers combined with a very fast digital controller running on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). (C) 2008 Optical Society of America