Self-mixing type of phase-locked laser diode interferometer

Abstract

A new type of phase-locked laser diode interferometer that uses self-mixing interference in the optical system is described. The selfmixing interference (SMI) signal is obtained easily by optical feedback, i.e., feeding back the laser beam from the object to the laser diode (LD). The SMI signal can be detected by a photodiode in the package of the LD. Therefore, a beamsplitter, reference mirror, and external photodetector are not required, and an interference signal is obtained using a simple optical system. Although the mechanism of SMI is completely different from that of conventional interference, it is shown that the response of the SMI signal to phase changes is the same as that of conventional interference. We used the phase-locked technique to fix the phase change and demonstrated measurement of absolute distance and displacement.