A compact and open-source microcontroller-based rapid auto-alignment system
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arXiv
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| Auteurs principaux: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Publié: |
2024
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| _version_ | 1866913589431894016 |
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| author | Geng, Yanda Tsidilkovski, Alan Weber, Kevin Mukherjee, Shouvik Restelli, Alessandro Subhankar, Sarthak |
| author_facet | Geng, Yanda Tsidilkovski, Alan Weber, Kevin Mukherjee, Shouvik Restelli, Alessandro Subhankar, Sarthak |
| contents | 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 mirrors mounts. Our auto-alignment strategy -- implemented as a state machine on the microcontroller by a FreeRTOS kernel -- 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 $\sim10$ seconds, even for a laser beam that was misaligned to the point of zero fiber coupling. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_02306 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | A compact and open-source microcontroller-based rapid auto-alignment system Geng, Yanda Tsidilkovski, Alan Weber, Kevin Mukherjee, Shouvik Restelli, Alessandro Subhankar, Sarthak Instrumentation and Detectors Optics 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 mirrors mounts. Our auto-alignment strategy -- implemented as a state machine on the microcontroller by a FreeRTOS kernel -- 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 $\sim10$ seconds, even for a laser beam that was misaligned to the point of zero fiber coupling. |
| title | A compact and open-source microcontroller-based rapid auto-alignment system |
| topic | Instrumentation and Detectors Optics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.02306 |