A Real-Time Feedback System to Stabilize Laser Intensity on Wavelength Modulation Interferometer

摘要

The phase of an interferogram carries the desired information for various applications such as 3-D profilometry. It can be obtained with a wavelength tuning interferometer by acquiring a series of interferograms while changing the laser wavelength. The phase achieved by the interferometer, however, has severe error due to the laser output power change, which is produced inherently from changing the laser wavelength. To eliminate such phase error, we propose a real-time closed-loop feedback control system to keep the laser output power stable during the wavelength tuning. The control system integrates a photodetector, a data acquisition card, and an electro-optic amplitude modulator with our software to achieve the purpose. The experimental result of the system can steadily output a desired intensity value and the measurement speed is up to 600 KHz. Both its control principles as well as its experimental validation are depicted in this letter.