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Laser Frequency Stabilisation

Topics:
Two Mode HeNe-Laser
Doppler Gain Profile
Frequency Pulling
Mode Separation
PI - Controller
Longitudinal Zeeman Effect
 
   

In principle the frequency of a Laser is defined by its own parameters. However in reality the emission frequency f is not stable within a couple of hours. For high precision interferometrical length measurements at least a long term stability of df/f ≤ 10-8 must be provided within 8 hours. To obtain such a performance a stabilisation loop must be added to the Laser.
Within this set-up the two mode stabilisation- the most commonly used technique- of a HeNe-Laser is applied and demonstrated. The control loop consists of the mode separator with provides the intensity of each mode and a micro processor based PI-controller. The active actuator is formed by a bifilar heater coil surrounding the Laser tube. By applying a longitudinal magnetic field along the Laser tube the occurrence of a beat frequency is demonstrated caused by the level splitting due to the Zeeman effect. By means of the provided fast photo detector the beat frequency (app. 800 MHz) of the two modes can be displayed by means of an electronic frequency analyser or counter.
 

Experimental Set-up

The radiation of the backside of the Laser tube is used to generate the control signal. At the polarizing beam splitter cube PBSC the two orthogonally modes are separated and the intensity measured by PD1 and PD 2. The first amplifier stage generates the difference of both intensity.
The next stage consists of the controller part formed by a proportional (P) and integrating (I) amplifier. Finally the resulting control signal is fed via an power amplifier (PA) to the heater coil which is wrapped around the tube. By changing the temperature the glass tube changes its length according to its thermal expansion coefficient resulting in a change of the length of the optical resonator.
The parameter of all stages can be set by the digital controller either locally via the push buttons or by a remote computer. Therefore this experiments is also addressed to the understanding of PI controller which are commonly used in the industry and in Photonic laboratories.

 

Required Equipment
 
Cat. No. Qty. Description

Illustration


02.0500

1

Profile rail OCM 650, 500 mm

The main components of the experimental systems are the optical rails OCM 650. They are manufactured distortion-free and are of thermally stabilized aluminium. The surface is electro-polished and black anodized. Because of the precise manufacturing, the smoothness deviation is less than 25 µm/m and the deviation of the symmetry axis of the rail is less than 10 µm/m, thus maintaining the optical axis during displacement of the carrier.
The rail has a dovetail like profile. Gear racks can be inserted and fixed into the slots. The profile rails are available at various lengths up to 2 m.
 

02.2126

1

Mounting plate OCM 650-50 including carrier 20 mm

Mounting plates are used to hold optical mounts. A characteristic feature of the mounting plates is the “click” mechanism of the inserts based on spring loaded spheres. Snapping in the groove of the inserted click mount, the optical element is kept in an exact position. On the other hand, the system allows a quick and easy change of the mounted inserts.
The mounting plates are made out of special anodized aluminum. Mounted onto the carrier 20 mm, the mounting plates can be placed onto an optical rail.
 

07.0102

1

PIN Si Photo detector BPX 61 complete with housing

In a housing a PIN Si photo detector is mounted. Via a BNC connection the signal is fed to the respective pre-amplifier or oscilloscope. The module is clicked into the mounting plate, where it is fixed by means of three separate spring loaded balls which snap into the groove of the detector housing.
 

07.0248

1

LFS-01 HeNe Laser frequency stabilizer

The task of frequency stabilisation is firstly to determine the deviation from a fixed centre frequency of the laser. In this set-up, the intensity difference of the emitted orthogonally polarised laser modes provides this information. In case the difference is zero, both modes are located symmetrically to the centre frequency. To obtain this situation, the length of the optical resonator must be controlled by means of a heating coil. For best results, a proportional and integral (PI) controller is applied. On a TFT display, the information of the stabilisation state is displayed. To train the operation of a PI controller different parameters can be entered via the buttons of the micro-processo
 

09.0044

1

Polarisation analyser with mounting plate and rotation assembly

In a rotational ring mount with a 360°, scale a polariser is assembled. By turning the ring, the transmitted intensity is monitored. In case the incident light is polarized, a minimum intensity occurs indicating that the polariser is adjusted 90° with respect to the polarisation direction of the incident light.
 

09.0342

1

Two mode HeNe laser

Due to safety reasons with respect to the high voltage supply of the HeNe-laser tube, the set-up is enclosed by an acrylic box. The length of the tube is designed in such a way that the laser can only emit two transverse modes. Due to the inner laser dynamic, these modes are perpendicular polarized to each other. To change the length of the resonator for stabilisation purposes, a bifilar arranged heater coil is applied to the tube.
 

09.0344

1

Mode separator and photodiode

To separate two orthogonal modes in order to determine the intensity of each one, a polarising beam splitter cube is used. Behind the cube, two photo detectors are attached under an angle of 90° to each other to measure the intensity of each mode.
 

10.0340
 

1
EXP 34 manual

No illustration


Required Options
 


19.0140


1


Dual trace oscilloscope 100 MHz

Features:
Frequency Range: 150 kHz ~ 100MHz
Fully Digital Phase Locked Loop Technique Design
High Frequency Stability: ±10ppm
High Input Protection Level: +30dBm, ±25VDC
Reference Level Range: -30dBm ~ +20dBm
 


Options
 


19.0160


1


Digital Dual Channel Storage Scope

150MHz Bandwidth With Monochrome LCD Display
125 k Long Memory and 12 Division Horizontal Display
25 GS/s Sampling Rate for Repetitive Waveforms
Advanced Trigger:
Pulse Width, TV Line, Event Delay and Time Delay
 

 

 



 

 



 


 


 


 










 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Laser Fundamentals
EXP 02 Detection of Light
EXP 19 Radio and Photometry
EXP 01 Emission and Absorption
EXP 03 Fabry Perot Resonator
EXP 04 Diodelaser
EXP 06 HeNe-Laser
EXP 08 Diode Pumped Nd:YAG Laser
EXP 05 Frequency Doubling
EXP 07 Generation of short pulses
EXP 31 Fibre Ring Laser NEW
EXP 20 Laser Safety

Laser Metrology
EXP 10 Laser Interferometer I
EXP 10 Laser Interferometer II
EXP 10 Laser Interferometer III
EXP 16 Laser Gyroscope
EXP 32 Laser Fibre Gyroscope NEW
EXP 21 Laser Triangulation
EXP 22 Laser Levelling
EXP 15 Laser Range Finder
EXP 29 Laser Beam Analysis
EXP 30 LDA Laser Doppler Anemometer NEW
EXP 33 Laser Vibrometer NEW
EXP 34 Laser Frequency Stabilisation NEW

Laser Material Processing
EXP 09 CO2 Experimental Laser
EXP 17 CO2 Laser Workstation 100 W
EXP 18 Nd:YAG Laser Workstation 80 W
EXP 23 Laser Maintenance & Trouble Shooting

Fibre Optics
EXP 11 Plastic Fibre Optics
EXP 12 Glass Fibre Optics
EXP 13 Optical Time Domain Reflectometry
EXP 14 Erbium Doped Fibre Amplifier
EXP 24 Workshop Glass Fibre Optics
EXP 25 Data Transmission via Glass Fibre

Miscellaneous Applications
EXP 26 Open Frame CD Reader
EXP 27 Bar Code Reader
EXP 28 Laser Scanner