Advanced optical distance measurements using femtosecond laser pulses

Abstract

Femtosecond lasers began to draw attention as a new light source for high-precision absolute distance measurements (ADMs) allowing for advanced principles such as synthetic wavelength generation, Fourier-transform-based dispersive analysis and multi-wavelength interferometry. In this talk, we present the state-of-the-art measurement principles and performance demonstrated by exploiting the unique temporal and spectral characteristics of femtosecond laser pulses for ADM applications.