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Review of low timing jitter mode-locked fiber lasers and applications in dual-comb absolute distance measurement

Authors :
Haosen Shi
Youjian Song
Runmin Li
Yuepeng Li
Hui Cao
Haochen Tian
Bowen Liu
Lu Chai
Minglie Hu
Source :
Nanotechnology and Precision Engineering, Vol 1, Iss 4, Pp 205-217 (2018)
Publication Year :
2018
Publisher :
AIP Publishing LLC, 2018.

Abstract

Passively mode-locked fiber lasers emit femtosecond pulse trains with excellent short-term stability. The quantum-limited timing jitter of a free running femtosecond erbium-doped fiber laser working at room temperature is considerably below one femtosecond at high Fourier frequency. The ultrashort pulse train with ultralow timing jitter enables absolute time-of-flight measurements based on a dual-comb implementation, which is typically composed of a pair of optical frequency combs generated by femtosecond lasers. Dead-zone-free absolute distance measurement with sub-micrometer precision and kHz update rate has been routinely achieved with a dual-comb configuration, which is promising for a number of precision manufacturing applications, from large step-structure measurements prevalent in microelectronic profilometry to three coordinate measurements in large-scale aerospace manufacturing and shipbuilding. In this paper, we first review the sub-femtosecond precision timing jitter characterization methods and approaches for ultralow timing jitter mode-locked fiber laser design. Then, we provide an overview of the state-of-the-art dual-comb absolute ranging technology in terms of working principles, experimental implementations, and measurement precisions. Finally, we discuss the impact of quantum-limited timing jitter on the dual-comb ranging precision at a high update rate. The route to high-precision dual-comb range finder design based on ultralow jitter femtosecond fiber lasers is proposed. Keywords: Timing jitter, Mode-locked lasers, Dual-comb, Absolute distance measurement

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
25895540
Volume :
1
Issue :
4
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Nanotechnology and Precision Engineering
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.9f0d97656bdf490c90ca64f44ca94652
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.npe.2018.12.002