A distance meter using a terahertz intermode beat in an optical frequency comb

Abstract

We propose a distance meter that utilizes an intermode beat of terahertz frequency in an optical frequency comb to perform high resolution and high dynamic range absolute distance measurements. The proposed system is based on a novel method, called multiheterodyne cross-correlation detection, in which intermode beat frequencies are scaled down to radio frequencies by optical mixing of two detuned optical frequency combs with a nonlinear optical crystal. Using this method, we obtained a 1.056 THz intermode beat and achieved a distance resolution of 0.820 microm from its phase measurement. Absolute distance measurement using 1.056 THz and 8.187 GHz intermode beats was also demonstrated in the range of 10 mm, resulting in a precision of 0.688 microm.