Interferometer scanning mechanisms and metrology at ABB: recent developments and future perspectives

Frédéric Grandmont; Henry Buijs; Julie Mandar

doi:10.1117/12.2304165

17 November 2017 Interferometer scanning mechanisms and metrology at ABB: recent developments and future perspectives

Frédéric Grandmont, Henry Buijs, Julie Mandar

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 10563, International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2014; 105633X (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2304165
Event: International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2014, 2014, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain

Abstract

Interferometers are devices meant to create an interference pattern between photons emitted from a given target of interest. In most cases, this interference pattern must be scanned over time or space to reveal useful information about the target (ex.: radiance spectra or a star diameter). This scanning is typically achieved by moving mirrors at a precision a few orders of magnitude smaller than the wavelength under study. This sometimes leads to mechanism requirements of especially high dynamic range equivalent to 30 bits or more (ex. Sub-nanometer precision over stoke of tens of cms for spectroscopy or tens of meters for astronomical spatial interferometry). On top of this mechanical challenge, the servo control of the mirror position involves obtaining relative distance measurement between distant optical elements with similar if not better dynamic range. The feedback information for such servo-control loop is usually the optical path difference (OPD) measured with a metrology laser beam injected in the interferometer. Over the years since the establishement of the Fourier Transform Spectrometers (FTS) in the 60’s as a standard spectroscopic tools, many different approaches have been used to accomplish this task. When it comes to space however, not all approaches are successful. The design challenge can be viewed as analogous to that of scene scanning modules with the exception that the sensitivity and precision are much finer. These mechanisms must move freely to allow fine corrections while remaining stiff to reject external perturbations with frequencies outside of the servo control system reach. Space also brings the additional challenges of implementing as much redundancy as possible and offering protection during launch for these sub-systems viewed as critical single point failures of the payloads they serve.

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Frédéric Grandmont, Henry Buijs, and Julie Mandar "Interferometer scanning mechanisms and metrology at ABB: recent developments and future perspectives", Proc. SPIE 10563, International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2014, 105633X (17 November 2017); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2304165

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KEYWORDS

Interferometers

Metrology

Mirrors

Fourier transforms

Sensors

Astronomical imaging

Scanners

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