中国物理B ›› 2009, Vol. 18 ›› Issue (8): 3438-3443.doi: 10.1088/1674-1056/18/8/051

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External-cavity birefringence feedback effects of microchip Nd:YAG laser and its application in angle measurement

任成, 谈宜东, 张书练   

  1. State Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement Technology and Instruments, Department of Precision Instruments \& Mechanology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
  • 收稿日期:2008-11-24 修回日期:2009-03-23 出版日期:2009-08-20 发布日期:2009-08-20
  • 基金资助:
    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No 50575110).

External-cavity birefringence feedback effects of microchip Nd:YAG laser and its application in angle measurement

Ren Cheng(任成)†, Tan Yi-Dong(谈宜东), and Zhang Shu-Lian(张书练)   

  1. State Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement Technology and Instruments, Department of Precision Instruments \& Mechanology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
  • Received:2008-11-24 Revised:2009-03-23 Online:2009-08-20 Published:2009-08-20
  • Supported by:
    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No 50575110).

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摘要： External-cavity birefringence feedback effects of the microchip Nd:YAG laser are presented. When a birefringence element is placed in the external feedback cavity of the laser, two orthogonally polarized laser beams with a phase difference are output. The phase difference is twice as large as the phase retardation in the external cavity along the two orthogonal directions. The variable extra-cavity birefringence, caused by rotation of the external-cavity birefringence element, results in tunable phase difference between the two orthogonally polarized beams. This means that the roll angle information has been translated to phase difference of two output laser beams. A theoretical analysis based on the Fabry--Perot cavity equivalent model and refractive index ellipsoid is presented, which is in good agreement with the experimental results. This phenomenon has potential applications for roll angle measurement.

Abstract: External-cavity birefringence feedback effects of the microchip Nd:YAG laser are presented. When a birefringence element is placed in the external feedback cavity of the laser, two orthogonally polarized laser beams with a phase difference are output. The phase difference is twice as large as the phase retardation in the external cavity along the two orthogonal directions. The variable extra-cavity birefringence, caused by rotation of the external-cavity birefringence element, results in tunable phase difference between the two orthogonally polarized beams. This means that the roll angle information has been translated to phase difference of two output laser beams. A theoretical analysis based on the Fabry--Perot cavity equivalent model and refractive index ellipsoid is presented, which is in good agreement with the experimental results. This phenomenon has potential applications for roll angle measurement.

Key words: microchip laser, external-cavity birefringence feedback, orthogonally polarized lasers, angle measurement

中图分类号:  (Doped-insulator lasers and other solid state lasers)

  • 42.55.Rz
42.60.Da (Resonators, cavities, amplifiers, arrays, and rings) 42.60.Jf (Beam characteristics: profile, intensity, and power; spatial pattern formation) 42.81.Gs (Birefringence, polarization)