Absolute distance measurement to coaxial multi-targets based on optical balanced cross-correlation using a single femtosecond laser

We describe a high-precision ranging method based on an optical balanced cross-correlation system with a scanning repetition rate using a single femtosecond laser. By scanning the repetition rate of a laser, measuring pulses can be overlapped with reference pulses. It is an effective method to make reference pulses overlap with coaxial multiple target pulses without additional mechanical devices. The overlapped pulses are launched to the optical balanced cross-correlation system, which improves the time resolution measurement to the attosecond level. Two nominal distances are measured, and an additional commercial laser interferometer is used as a comparison to evaluate the accuracy of our measurement system. Moreover, the thickness of three stacked glasses is measured by our measure-ment system to verify that this system can measure coaxial multiple targets more quickly than conventional optical balanced cross-correlation systems using a single optical frequency comb. (C) 2022 Optica Publishing Group

Automated summary

This paper describes a high-precision ranging method based on an optical balanced cross-correlation system and a single femtosecond laser. By adjusting the repetition rate of the laser, the measurement pulses can overlap with the reference pulses, allowing for the measurement of coaxial multiple target pulses without additional mechanical devices.