Laser vibrometer-rangefinder based on self-sweeping fiber laser

Abstract

A vibrometer-rangefinder based on principles of coherent optical frequency-domain reflectometry (C-OFDR) is experimentally demonstrated. A self-sweeping ytterbium-doped fiber laser, which does not require any spectrally selective elements and drivers for wavelength tuning, with a sweeping range of 1056-1074 nm is used as a tunable source of probe radiation for the C-OFDR measurements. We demonstrate the possibility of measuring target vibrations in the frequency range from 2 Hz to 5 kHz with an amplitude of down to ∼5 nm at a distance of up to ∼13 m. The maximum measurable vibration frequency is limited by the instability of the self-sweeping laser parameters in the time domain and is estimated as ∼7.5 kHz.