Measurement of stress-induced birefringence in glasses based on reflective laser feedback effect

摘要

A glass birefringence measurement system utilizing the reflective laser feedback (RLF) effect is presented. The measurement principle is analyzed based on the equivalent cavity of a Fabry-Perot interferometer, and the experiments are conducted with a piece of quartz glass with applied extrusion force. In the feedback system, aluminum film used as a feedback mirror is affixed to the back of the sample. When the light is reflected back into the cavity, as the reinjected light is imprinted with the birefringence information in the sample, the gain and polarization states of the laser are modulated. The variation of optical power and polarization states hopping is monitored to obtain the magnitude of the stress. The system has advantages such as simplicity and low-cost with a precision of 1.9 nm. Moreover, by adjusting the position of the aluminum, large-area samples can be measured anywhere at any place.