Rapidly Tunable Synthetic Wavelength Ranging with an RFSoC

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: McSorley, Shawn M. P., Dix-Matthews, Benjamin P., Lance, Andrew M., Gozzard, David R., Schediwy, Sascha W.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author McSorley, Shawn M. P.
Dix-Matthews, Benjamin P.
Lance, Andrew M.
Gozzard, David R.
Schediwy, Sascha W.
author_facet McSorley, Shawn M. P.
Dix-Matthews, Benjamin P.
Lance, Andrew M.
Gozzard, David R.
Schediwy, Sascha W.
contents Measurements of optical range and time-of-flight are crucial for a variety of high-precision technologies. Competitive optical measurement techniques have been developed that balance precision with accuracy and system complexity. Here, we present a continuous-wave synthetic wavelength interferometry technique that employs digitally tunable electro-optic frequency combs. With a software-defined radio, our approach can dynamically sweep the synthetic wavelength and measure absolute optical range. We demonstrate this digital approach over a free-space optical delay line of 1 m and over an 40 km fiber link. The best obtained precision over the delay line is better than 60 nm (0.2 fs). Through a 40 km fiber spool, this precision degrades to 15 um (50 fs), which is a fractional error on the order of 2e-10 m/m. Our design is simple to implement, and only relies on continuous-wave interference, decreasing system complexity.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_22499
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Rapidly Tunable Synthetic Wavelength Ranging with an RFSoC
McSorley, Shawn M. P.
Dix-Matthews, Benjamin P.
Lance, Andrew M.
Gozzard, David R.
Schediwy, Sascha W.
Optics
Instrumentation and Detectors
Measurements of optical range and time-of-flight are crucial for a variety of high-precision technologies. Competitive optical measurement techniques have been developed that balance precision with accuracy and system complexity. Here, we present a continuous-wave synthetic wavelength interferometry technique that employs digitally tunable electro-optic frequency combs. With a software-defined radio, our approach can dynamically sweep the synthetic wavelength and measure absolute optical range. We demonstrate this digital approach over a free-space optical delay line of 1 m and over an 40 km fiber link. The best obtained precision over the delay line is better than 60 nm (0.2 fs). Through a 40 km fiber spool, this precision degrades to 15 um (50 fs), which is a fractional error on the order of 2e-10 m/m. Our design is simple to implement, and only relies on continuous-wave interference, decreasing system complexity.
title Rapidly Tunable Synthetic Wavelength Ranging with an RFSoC
topic Optics
Instrumentation and Detectors
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.22499