A penetration laser welding mode characterized by formation of keyhole is often used. A small portion of the laser beam is reflected back from the keyhole and returned to the laser through the optical system of the welding head and optical fiber. The reflected radiation is monitored in the laser for the safety of the optical resonator and its signal can be read and used for process monitoring. The experiment was conducted to relate the intensity of the back-reflected radiation with depth and width of the weld for the variable focal position. The experiments were performed for two variants of the optical focusing system and materials with different thermo-physical properties - carbon steel and stainless steel. Furthermore, a mathematical model for back-reflected radiation was created using ray tracing. The shape of the keyhole was approximated as an inclined conical cavity. The results of the simulation were compared with experimentally measured data and it was found that the proposed model is most suitable for the description of stainless steel.
We present an experimental study of the method using a spatial light modulator for correction of the wavefront reflected from the optically rough surface. This method is based on the detection of the mutual phase differences between different regions of the wavefront that correspond to the constructive interference. We study the capabilities of this method from the metrological point of view for the ground glass samples characterized by several different levels of roughness. The resulting wavefront correction is tested in dependence on the measurement parameters settings and is verified by analyzing two specific patterns generated by the spatial light modulator.
The air refractive index is an important parameter in interferometric length measurements, since it substantially
affects the measurement accuracy. We present a refractive index of air measurement method based on monitoring
the phase difference between the ambient air and vacuum inside a permanently evacuated double-spaced cell.
The cell is placed in one arm of the Michelson interferometer equipped with two light sources—red LED and
HeNe laser, while the low-coherence and laser interference signals are measured separately. Both phase and group
refractive indices of air can be calculated from the measured signals. The method was experimentally verified by
comparing the obtained refractive index values with two different techniques.
The homodyne detection with only a single detector represents a promising approach in the interferometric application which enables a significant reduction of the optical system complexity while preserving the fundamental resolution and dynamic range of the single frequency laser interferometers. We present the design, implementation and analysis of algorithmic methods for computational processing of the single-detector interference signal based on parallel pipelined processing suitable for real time implementation on a programmable hardware platform (e.g. the FPGA - Field Programmable Gate Arrays or the SoC - System on Chip). The algorithmic methods incorporate (a) the single detector signal (sine) scaling, filtering, demodulations and mixing necessary for the second (cosine) quadrature signal reconstruction followed by a conic section projection in Cartesian plane as well as (a) the phase unwrapping together with the goniometric and linear transformations needed for the scale linearization and periodic error correction. The digital computing scheme was designed for bandwidths up to tens of megahertz which would allow to measure the displacements at the velocities around half metre per second. The algorithmic methods were tested in real-time operation with a PC-based reference implementation that employed the advantage pipelined processing by balancing the computational load among multiple processor cores. The results indicate that the algorithmic methods are suitable for a wide range of applications [3] and that they are bringing the fringe counting interferometry closer to the industrial applications due to their optical setup simplicity and robustness, computational stability, scalability and also a cost-effectiveness.
The absorption cells represent an unique tool for the laser frequency stabilization. They serve as irreplaceable optical frequency references in realization of high-stable laser standards and laser sources for different brands of optical measurements, including the most precise frequency and dimensional measurement systems. One of the most often used absorption media covering visible and near IR spectral range is molecular iodine. It offers rich atlas of very strong and narrow spectral transitions which allow realization of laser systems with ultimate frequency stabilities in or below 10-14 order level. One of the most often disccussed disadvantage of the iodine cells is iodine’s corrosivity and sensitivity to presence of foreign substances. The impurities react with absorption media and cause spectral shifts of absorption spectra, spectral broadening of the transitions and decrease achievable signal-to-noise ratio of the detected spectra. All of these unwanted effects directly influence frequency stability of the realized laser standard and due to this fact, the quality of iodine cells must be precisely controlled. We present a comparison of traditionally used method of laser induced fluorescence (LIF) with novel technique based on hyperfine transitions linewidths measurement. The results summarize advantages and drawbacks of these techniques and give a recommendation for their practical usage.
This paper presents a contactless method for gauge blocks calibration combining laser interferometry and low-coherence interferometry. In the presented system, the contactless measurement of the absolute gauge block length is done as a single-step operation without any change in optical setup during measurement, giving complete information about the gauge block length. The paper also presents a set of optimization steps which have been done in order to transform the original experimental setup into the automatic system which meets legal length metrology requirements. To prove the measurement traceability, we conducted a set of gauge block length measurement comparing data from the optimized system and the established reference systems TESA NPL A.G.I. 300 and TESA–UPC operated in Czech Metrology Institute laboratory.
We present a new self-referenced interferometer for the form measurement of hollow cylindrical tubes that provides the accuracy in the micrometer range. It is based on a simple and robust setup where the reference and object waves are represented by the central and peripheral parts, respectively, of the conical wave generated by a single axicon. The inteferogram is characterized by a closed-fringe pattern with a circular carrier which allows for the interference phase demodulation using spatial synchronous detection. The misalignment aberrations are corrected by an iterative computational procedure. The measurement capabilities of the interferometer are experimentally tested for the glass and stainless steel tubes with lengths from 220 mm to 600 mm.
KEYWORDS: Mirrors, Deformable mirrors, Actuators, High power lasers, Laser cutting, 3D scanning, 3D metrology, Optical testing, Manufacturing, Heat treatments
The modern trend in high power laser applications such as welding, cutting and surface hardening lies in the use of solid-state lasers. The output beam of these lasers is characterized by a Gaussian intensity distribution. However, the laser beams with different intensity distributions, e.g. top-hat, are preferable in various applications. In this paper we present a new type of deformable mirror suitable for the corresponding laser beam shaping. The deformation of the mirror is achieved by an underlying array of actuators and a pressurized coolant that also provides the necessary cooling. We describe the results of the surface shape measurement using a 3D scanner for different settings of actuators. Further, we show the achieved intensity distributions measured by a beam profiler for a low power laser beam reflected from the mirror.
Optical frequency references for laser standards based on molecular iodine absorption cells represent one of the most used tool for frequency stabilization of lasers operating in a visible spectral range. In the industry oriented laser measurements and similar laser interferometry applications performed at atmospheric conditions, a refractive index of air plays a role of main uncertainty contributor. In these cases there is no need to use technologically complicated and expensive iodine references made of pure fused silica with precise pressure control of absorpbing media. A set of iodine cells made of borosilicate glass was filled with certain amount of absorbing media to define the saturation point of iodine inside. A combination of these two approaches (pyrex material and controlled saturation pressure of iodine) allows us to simplify the laser stabilization setup (there is no need of additional iodine pressure level control) and reduce the overall reference’s costs with ensuring of sufficient frequency stability of the system at the same time. Spectral properties of manufactured cells were tested by hyperfine transitions linewidth measurement and comparison with results from traditional fused silica cells was done to investigate the long-term iodine purity inside the references. As the transitions linewidth method shows a very high sensitivity to iodine purity level, this method is proposed to be an alternative approach in investigation of contamination in iodine absorption cells where traditionally used techniques - laser induced fluorescence (LIF) and absolute frequency shifts measurement - can not be used.
We report on an evaluation of the influence that fast changes of the refractive index has on the uncertainty of interferometric displacement measurement. Measurement of position within a limited range is typical for coordinate measuring systems such as nanometrology standards combining scanning probe microscopy (SPM) with precise positioning. For long-range systems the varying refractive index of air contributes the most to the overall uncertainty. We proposed to extend the principle of compensation of the fluctuations of the refractive index of air through monitoring the optical length within the measuring range of the displacement measuring interferometer. In this contribution we evaluate the level of uncertainty associated with the nature of the fluctuations of the refractive index of air in laser interferometry. We have observed that its fast variations, seen as length noise, are not linearly proportional to the measuring beam path but play a significant role only over distances longer than 50 mm. Over longer distances the length noise rises proportionally. The measurements were performed under conditions typical for metrology SPM systems.
This paper presents a method for active angular alignment of gauge block implemented in a system for automatic contactless calibration of gauge blocks designed at ISI ASCR. The system combines low-coherence interferometry and laser interferometry, where the first identifies the gauge block sides position and the second one measures the gauge block length itself. A crucial part of the system is the algorithm for gauge block alignment to the measuring beam which is able to compensate the gauge block lateral and longitudinal tilt up to 0.141 mrad. The algorithm is also important for the gauge block position monitoring during its length measurement.
The main aim of this work is oriented towards preparation and spectral properties evaluation of optical frequency references for laser standards – molecular iodine cells. These references represent the crucial part of setups for practical realization of the meter unit – highly stable laser standards. Furthermore, not only in the most precise laboratory instruments, but also in less demanding interferometric measuring setups the frequency stabilization of the lasers throught the absorption in suitable media ensure the direct traceability to the fundamental standard of length. A set of absorption cells filled with different amounts of molecular iodine (different saturation pressure point of absorption media) was prepared and an agreement between expected and resulting spectral properties of these cells was observed and evaluated. The usage of borosilicate glass instead of common fused silica as a material for cells bodies represents an approach to simplify the manufacturing technology process and also reduces the overall cell costs. A great care must be taken to control/avoid the risk of absorption media contamination by impurities releasing from the cell walls. We introduce an iodine purity and spectral properties evaluation method based on measurement of linewidth of the hyperfine transitions. The proposed method was used for verification of great iodine purity of manufactured cells by comparison of spectral properties with cells traditionally made of fused silica glass with well known iodine purity. The results confirmed a great potential of proposed approaches.
The absorption cells - optical frequencies references – represent the crucial part of setups for practical realization of the meter unit – highly stable laser standards, where varied laser sources are frequency locked to the selected absorption transitions. Furthermore, not only in the most precise laboratory instruments, but also in less demanding interferometric measuring setups the frequency stabilization of the lasers throught the absorption in suitable media ensure the direct traceability to the fundamental standard of length. We present the results of measurement and evaluation of spectral properties of molecular iodine absorption cells filled to saturation pressure of absorption media. A set of cells filled with different amounts of molecular iodine was prepared and an agreement between expected and resulting spectral properties of these cells was observed and evaluated. The cells made of borosilicate glass instead of common fused silica were tested for their spectral properties in greater detail with special care for the absorption media purity – the measured hyperfine transitions linewidths were compared to cells traditionally made of fused silica glass with well known iodine purity. The usage of borosilicate glass material represents easier manufacturing process and also significant costs reduction but a great care must be taken to control/avoid the risk of absorption media contamination. An approach relying on measurement of linewidth of the hyperfine transitions is proposed and discussed.
We have addressed the challenge to carry out the angular tilt stabilization of a laser guiding mirror which is intended to route a laser beam with a high energy density. Such an application requires good angular accuracy as well as large operating range, long term stability and absolute positioning. We have designed an instrument for such a high precision angular tilt measurement based on a triangulation method where a laser beam with Gaussian profile is reflected off the stabilized mirror and detected by an image sensor. As the angular deflection of the mirror causes a change of the beam spot position, the principal task is to measure the position on the image chip surface. We have employed a numerical analysis of the Gaussian intensity pattern which uses the nonlinear regression algorithm. The feasibility and performance of the method were tested by numeric modeling as well as experimentally. The experimental results indicate that the assembled instrument achieves a measurement error of 0.13 microradian in the range ±0.65 degrees over the period of one hour. This corresponds to the dynamic range of 1:170 000.
This paper presents a method for active angular alignment of gauge block implemented in a system for automatic contactless calibration of gauge blocks designed at ISI ASCR. The system combines low-coherence interferometry and laser interferometry, where the first identifies the gauge block sides position and the second one measures the gauge block length itself. A crucial part of the system is the algorithm for gauge block alignment to the measuring beam which is able to compensate the gauge block lateral and longitudinal tilt up to 0.141 mrad. The algorithm is also important for the gauge block position monitoring during its length measurement.
The reliability of nanometer track writing in the large scale chip manufacturing process depends mainly on a precise positioning of the e-beam writer moving stage. The laser interferometers are usually employed to control this positioning, but their complicated optical scheme leads to an expensive instrument which increases the e-beam writer's manufacturing costs. We present a new design of an interferometric system useful in a currently developed cost effective e-beam writers. Our approach simplifies the optical scheme of known industrial interferometers and shifts the interference phase detection complexity from optical domain to the digital signal processing part. Besides the effective cost, the low number of optical components minimizes the total uncertainty of this measuring instrument. The scheme consists of a single wavelength DFB laser working at 1530 nm, one beam splitter, measuring and reference reflectors and one photo-detector at the interferometer output. The DFB laser is frequency modulated by slight changes of injection current while the interference intensity signal is processed synchronously. Our algorithm quantifies the phase as two sinusoidal waveforms with a phase offset equal to the quarter of the DFB laser wavelength. Besides the computation of these quadrature signals, the scale linearization techniques are used for an additional suppression of optical setup imperfections, noise and the residual amplitude modulation caused by the laser modulation. The stage position is calculated on basis of the DFB laser wavelength and the processed interference phase. To validate the precision and accuracy we have carried out a pilot experimental comparison with a reference interferometer over the 100 mm measurement range. The first tests promise only ±2 nm deviation between simplified and the reference interferometer.
In scanning probe microscopy laser interferometers are usually used for measuring the position of the probe tip with a
metrological traceability. As the most of the AFM setups are designed to work under standard atmospheric conditions
the changes of the refractive index of air have an influence to measured values of the length with 1.0exp(-4) relatively.
In order to achieve better accuracies the refractive index of air has to be monitored continuously and its instantaneous
value has to be used for compensating the lengths measured by all of the interferometric axes. In the presented work we
developed a new concept of an electronic unit which is able to monitor the refractive index of air on basis of
measurement of ambient atmospheric conditions: temperature, humidity, pressure of the air and the CO2 concentration. The data processing is based on Ciddor equation for calculating the refractive index of air. The important advantage of the unit is a very low power consumption of the electronics so the unit causes only negligible temperature effects to the
measured environment. The accuracy of the indirect measuring method employed by the unit was verified. We tested
the accuracy in comparison with a direct method of measuring refractive index of air based on an evacuatable cell
placed at the measuring arm of a laser interferometer. An experimental setup used for verification is presented together with a set of measurements describing the performance. The resulting accuracy of the electronic unit falls to the 4.1 exp(-7) relatively.
Although the laser interferometry represents the most precise class of techniques in the field of precise measurement of geometrical quantities, its wide use in measurement systems is still accompanied by many unresolved challenges. One of these challenges is the complexity of underlying optical systems. We present a novel approach to the interference phase detection - fringe subdivision - in the homodyne laser interferometry that aims at reduction of the optical complexity while the resolution is preserved. Our method employs a series of computational steps to infer a pair of signals in quadrature that allows to determine the interference phase with a sub-nanometre resolution from an interference signal from a non-polarising interferometer sampled by a single photodetector. The complexity trade-off is the use of laser beam with frequency modulation capability. The method was experimentally evaluated on a Michelson interferometer-based free-space setup and its performance has been compared to a traditional homodyne detection method. The results indicate the method is a feasible al
ternative for the traditional homodyne detection since it performs with comparable accuracy (< 0.5nm standard
deviation), especially where the optical setup complexity is principal issue and the modulation of laser beam is not a heavy burden, for instance in multi-axis measurement systems or laser diode based systems.
Determination of the interference phase, i.e. the mutual phase shift between interfering waves is a principal issue in the interferometric measurement, especially on the nanometre scale. Our goal was to develop a novel interference phase detection technique that employs a computational approach and a frequency modulation of the laser source to achieve comparable performance with a homodyne detection with an optical phase shift generation. We have used a Michelson setup with polarizing optics that allowed to compare both the homodyne detection method and our novel method side by side while both methods shared the optical setup. Our method also comprises error compensation that deals e.g. with residual amplitude modulation and the scale non-linearities. The experiments revealed that the novel method achieves a periodic error less than 0.16 angular degrees and a standard deviation of less than 1.5 degrees, compared against the reference. The operational distance was 600mm. The method had proven it is suitable replacement for traditional homodyne detection techniques since it has comparable performance and significantly lower demands on the optical setup.
The depth of penetration is probably the most important factor that influences the quality of a laser weld. The
depth strongly depends on the focus of the welding beam. The sublimating material forms plasma vapors, that
act as a lens and defocus the laser beam. Our contribution presents a method to compensate this phenomenon
using an adaptive mirror - a mirror with flexible surface that can adjust the shape of the welding beam. The
mirror is regulated by a feedback control loop so that the focus of the laser beam and the penetration depth
remain in an optimal range. Since the only possibility to state the penetration depth is to monitor outer effects
to estimate desired parameters. a sensor unit is used to monitor the optical emissions of the plasma vapors
and the measured data are inputs to an algorithm that estimates the penetration depth. We have done several
experiments that study the relation of the adaptive mirror focus and the laser beam shape and how it influences
the penetration depth. The estimation results are compared with material samples from test welds. On the basis
of these experiments, a preliminary version of a control system was developed and a tested. The tests has shown
that the implementation of the control system has positive influence on the quality of the resulting weld.
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