A compact and open-source microcontroller-based rapid auto-alignment system.
Rev Sci Instrum
; 95(9)2024 Sep 01.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-39283184
ABSTRACT
Maintaining stable and precise alignment of a laser beam is crucial in many optical setups. In this work, we present a microcontroller-based rapid auto-alignment system that detects and corrects for drifts in a laser beam trajectory using a pair of two-dimensional duo-lateral position sensing detectors (PSDs) and a pair of mirror mounts with piezoelectric actuators. We develop hardware and software for interfacing with the PSDs and for controlling the motion of the piezoelectric mirror mounts. Our auto-alignment strategy-implemented as a state machine on the microcontroller by a real-time operating system kernel from FreeRTOS-is based on a simple linearized geometrical optical model. We benchmark our system using the standard case of coupling laser light efficiently into the guided mode of a single-mode fiber optic patch cable. We can recover the maximum fiber coupling efficiency in â¼10 seconds, even for a laser beam misaligned to the point of zero fiber coupling efficiency.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Rev Sci Instrum
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos
Pais de publicación:
Estados Unidos