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NATIONAL RADIO ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORYGreen Bank, West Virginia
Electronics Division Internal Report No. 119
A LASER DISTANCE MEASURING INSTRUMENT
John M. Payne
JUNE 1972
NUMBER OF COPIES: 150
A LASER DISTANCE MEASURING INSTRUMENT
John M. Payne
CONTENTS Egge
1. 0 Summary ..................................................... ....................................................... 12. 0 Introduction ......................................................... .................................................. 13, 0 Principle of Operation4. 0 Existing Optical Distance Measuring Instruments ....................................... 35, 0 Description of Instrument ............. ......................................................................4
5. 1 General ................................................ ................................................... 45. 2 Choice of Frequencies .......................... ..................................................... 45.3 Optics .....................................................................................55.4 Electronics .................... ..........................................................................5
6. 0 Theoretical Performance of Instrument 97. 0 Tests with Instrument .................... ............................................................... 118. 0 Telescope Installation ............................... ..................................................... 139. 0 Future Development .................................................... ................................. 14
10, 0 Acknowledgments ......... ................................................................................. 14
LIST OF FIGURES
1. Simplified Block Diagram ............................................................................. 152. Photograph of Instrument and Display Unit .......................................... ....... 163. Photograph of Instrument .................... ....................................................... 174. Block Diagram ................................................................................................ 185. Modulating Cavity ................................................................................. ...... 196. RF Drive for Cavity ....................................................................................... 207. Digital Divide Circuits ..................................................... ............................ 218. Local Oscillator Circuits ............................................................. ............... 229. Receiving Circuits 23
10. Integrating Phase Detector ..................................... ........ ............................. 2411. Photograph of Test Range ............................................................................ 2512. Photograph of Instrument in Reber Dish Building ............................................ 2613. Photo of Micrometer Bench .................................................. ....................... 2714. Graph of Results 2815. Photograph of Corner Cube Reflector ......................................................... 2916. Possible Telescope Installation .................................................................... 30
TABLES
1. Summary of Different Forms of Modulated Light Beam Instruments .......... 312. Test Over 60 m Path ...................................................................................... ..........32
A LASER J NCE MEASURING INSTRUMENT
1.0 Summary
This report describes a prototype distance measuring instrument that may be
used to survey the surface of a radio telescope in a fast and accurate manner. The
principle used is simply to measure the transit time of a beam of light out and back over
the path to be measured.
The instrument will permit a survey using a triangulation method by making ac-
curate range measurements over two paths to small reflectors on the surface of the
telescope.
The instrument in its present form will measure ranges up to 60 meters with an
RMS (1a) accuracy of better than ± 0. 1 mm and in a measurement time of 2. 5 seconds.
2. 0 Introduction
The birth of this instrument has been precipitated by the completion of the design
of the 65 meter telescope. A critical part of the construction of the telescope will be the
setting and subsequent checking of the surface panels, a task usually accomplished by
measurements using a tape and theodolite. The design of the telescope requires setting
about 3, 000 points on the surface to an accuracy of ± 0. 1 mm RMS in a few hours, an
almost impossible task using conventional methods.
Although the instrument described in this report was developed primarily to prove
the feasibility of a performance adequate for the setting of the 65 meter telescope, it may
well prove useful in surveying existing instruments. Interest has been expressed in using
the instrument for setting the new surface at Arecibo and the instrument, when repackaged,
would be ideal for this application. No problems are anticipated by operation at a range
of 150 meters.
The instrument uses a simple principle that has been used for many years in
surveying instruments. Commercial instruments using this principle are available but
the best have an accuracy of only ± 1 mm which is not adequate for our needs.
3. 0 Principle of Operation
A high-intensity light beam (in our case a helium neon laser beam) is amplitude
modulated, transmitted over the path to be measured, and reflected back to the instrument.
The phase of the returned beam is measured with respect to a reference, the phase shift
2
being proportional to the total distance the transmitted light beam has travelled.
This principle is illustrated in Figure 1 in which the light beam is modulated at
a frequency 1m'
the one-way distance to be measured is d, and the phase of the returned
signal is cps
.
The returned light beam will be shifted in phase by -2—d where X is the wave-
length of the modulating frequency. If X < 2d, then the phase will be shifted through
more than one cycle and ambiguities in distance reading will arise.
The instrument we have developed uses a modulating frequency of 550 MHz, so
range ambiguities will occur about every 27 cm. This means, of course, that the dis-
tance to be measured has to be known in advance to better than this value. A dual-
frequency system is often used to resolve such ambiguities, and the present instrument
could be modified to work in this way. However, it seems unnecessary for measuring
radio telescopes.
Referring to Figure 1, the phase detector output will be proportional to
where Or is the reference phase and is the phase of the returned signal.
2d - nA x 360 degrees
where (2d - nX) < X and n is an integer.
For a distance determination of O. 1 mm accuracy using a X of 55 cm, we re-
quire a phase measuring accuracy and phase stability within the instrument of 0. 13°,
The high accuracy of the instrument stems directly from the high modulation
frequency used. The highest frequency used in a commercial instrument is 75 MHz for
which the manufacturer claims an accuracy of ± 1 mm.
The velocity of light through air varies with air temperature, pressure, and
relative humidity. At a range of 60 m we need to know air temperature to about 1. 5 °C
and air pressure to about 4 mm of mercury to achieve the 0. 1 mm accuracy. The
effects of relative humidity over such a distance can be neglected.
3
4. 0 Existing Instruments
There are many ways of implementing the simple principle illustrated in Figure
1 and Table 1 gives a summary of various instruments using this general principle. An
instrument coming very close in performance to our requirements is the Mekometer III
that was developed at the National Physical Laboratory in the U.K. This instrument is
not at present commercially available.
The Mekometer uses an ingeneous phase measuring technique that nulls the phase
of the received light beam by mechanically changing the path length of the received sig-
nal a calibrated amount. By slightly shifting the transmitted signal in frequency and re-
nulling several times the distance may be obtained. This method has the advantage of
eliminating any errors inherent in the measurement of phase electronically but is not
suitable for our application due to the fairly long period required for a measurement.
Some of the instruments listed in Table I overcome any potential instability in
the phase measuring circuits by switching between an internal optical reference path
and the signal path in a manner similar to a load-switched radiometer.
Our previous experience with mixers and phase measuring techniques suggested
that mixing down the 550 MHz signal and reference waveforms to a low frequency and
comparing the phases directly should yield a measurement accuracy of 0. 1° in phase.
Before building the instrument we tested various R. F. components (hybrids,
filters, amplifiers and mixers) and reached the conclusion that provided the components
were stable in temperature to better than ± 1 °C the phase detection to 0. 1° was cer-
tainly feasible.
Before building the prototype instrument we decided that the instrument should
have the following specifications:
Accuracy better than ± 0. 1. mm RMS
on a single reading.
Range: 1 m - 60 m.
Measurement time less than 5 secs.
Digital display automatically updated.
Reflector size 1" diameter or less.
5. 0 agniption_ollp,,Amment
5. 1 General
A photograph of the instrument and its display unit is shown in Figure 2. More
detailed views of the instrument are shown in Figure 3. Cigarette smoke was blown
in to make the laser beam visible. No effort was taken to make the instrument small;
like most prototypes, it just grew. For the final tests of the instrument, it was housed
in a temperature controlled box, the light beam passing through a quartz window. A
block diagram of the instrument is shown in Figure 4.
5. 2 Choice of Frequencies
There are three main frequencies within the instrument:
1) The modulating frequency.
2) The IF frequency.
3) The digital circuitry clock frequency.
To achieve the stability required it seemed essential that these frequencies be
derived from a common, stable, crystal oscillator.
Corrections for variation in the speed of light due to changes in atmospheric
conditions may also be applied directly to the instrument by pulling the frequency of this
master oscillator. The frequencies were chosen as follows:
Master Oscillator ....... ....... f........ 60. 97463 MHz
Modulating Frequency ......... ...... f......... 9f........ 54$. 7717 MHzm o
IF Frequency ........................I
= —97 = 3. 72160 kHz21'
Clock Frequency o 20. 32487 MHz3
With these frequencies and the group* velocity of light at 0 °C and 760 mm of
mercury the digital phase meter will have a sensitivity of 20 counts per millimeter of
distance per cycle of IF signal, and the digital display may be arranged to read directly
in cm, the least significant digit being 0. 001 cm.
* The group velocity is correctly used since it is the velocity of the modulation envelopewhich is required.
5
5. 3 Optics
The optics of the instrument were kept very simple and no effort was directed
towards compactness. A more engineered version of the instrument could be made
much smaller by using a shorter focal length receiving mirror.
The light source we used was a Hughes Helium Neon Laser Model 3076H. This
laser has a power output of 3 mW, a beam divergence of 0. 8 milliradian, and is linearily
polarized to better than 1000: 1.
The optical path is made clear from Figure 4. The polarized laser beam first
passes through a cavity that is tuned to the modulating frequency. In the high electric
field region of the cavity is a crystal of potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) through
which the laser beam passes. When an electric field is applied to this crystal the plane
of polarization of the laser beam is rotated. On emerging from the cavity the beam
passes through a polarizing prism that converts the polarization angle modulation to
amplitude modulation.
Two mirrors then direct the beam to the distant target which is a retroreflector.
This has the property of reflecting the light beam back along its path with a high degree
of precision over a wide range of angles of the incident light.
The returned light beam has a diameter of about 3 inches at the receiving mirror
at a range of 60 m. This light is then focused, via a mirror, onto the receiving photo
diode.
For linear operation of the instrument it is essential that no modulated laser light,
other than the directly reflected beam, find its way into the receiving diode. It is also
important that there are no multiple reflections between the diode and the distant reflec-
tor. This is explained more fully later.
5. 4 Electronics
5. 41 Signal Flow
The master oscillator drives a x3 transistor multiplier and power amplifier that
provides 500 mW at 182. 92389 MHz to the x3 transistor multiplier built into the top part
of the cavity. This multiplier provides 1 watt at 548. 7717 MHz to the modulating crystal.
The master oscillator is divided by a 14-bit counter to produce a 3. 72160 kHz
signal which is added to the modulating frequency to produce the local oscillator fre-
quency via the LO circuits.
The received light signal is first detected and amplified in the avalanche photo-
diode which is matched to 50 ohms at 550 MHz. The 550 MHz signal is now filtered,
amplified and mixed to produce an IF signal at 3, 72160 kHz. This signal is squared
using a Schmitt trigger and the leading edge is used to start the clock pulses at
20.324878 MHz into the integrating digital phase detector. The clock pulses are
stopped by the leading edge of the reference signal, the accumulated clock pulses being
a measure of the phase difference between the two waveforms.
The digital circuitry permits the averaging of 100, 1000, or 10, 000 IF signal
periods, the number of periods being selectable by a switch.
As previously mentioned, the frequencies have been chosen to give a scale factor
of 20 clock pulses per millimeter for one IF cycle, At the end of an integration period,
which then includes the sum of many IF cycles, the accumulated count is displayed on a
5-digit L. E. D. display in centimeters, the least significant digit being 0. 001 cm.
5. 42 Modulator
The modulator assembly is shown in Figure 5. The KDP crystal was purchased
from Isomet Corporation sealed in a plastic case with optical windows coated for 6328A.
The crystal needs a DC bias of about 500 volts to ensure operation in the linear region
and an RF voltage of 200 V p. p. to give a modulation depth of around 10 percent. We
decided the best solution to the problem of driving the modulator would be to incorporate
it in a cavity.
We found that the case the crystal was encapsulated in was rather lossy and re-
duced the Q of the cavity, resulting in an RF drive level of about 1 watt.
The cavity was fine tuned by an adjustable vane giving variable capacitance be-
tween the center conductor and the floor of the cavity.
The final x3 multiplier was situated in the top of the cavity and was coupled into
the cavity via a loop to the center conductor. This loop was arranged to give an input
impedance of 50 ohms to simplify testing of the multiplier and cavity.
Another loop in the top of the cavity served to couple out about 10 mW of power
at 550 MHz for the local oscillator circuits.
7
A crucial part of the design of the instrument is the prevention of any of the RF
modulating signal leaking into the received signal path. This isolation was achieved by
putting the RF power circuits in the top of the cavity, having a good fitting lid on the
cavity and also by double shielding the receiver.
5. 43 lylaltiplier Chain
The RF multiplier chain is shown in Figure 6 and is conventional in design.
We used an RCA "overlay" transistor for the final multiplier and found that the voltage
variable collector to base capacitance permitted very efficient multiplication.
5. 44 Di stal
The digital divide circuits are shown in Figure 7. The master oscillator signal
passes through a buffer amplifier and logic gates and is then divided by three to produce
the clock frequency for the phase detector and display circuitry and also drives a 14-bit
counter to give the 3. 72160 kHz signal to the local oscillator circuits.
5. 45 Local Oscillator Circuits
The local oscillator circuits are shown in Figure 8. A voltage-controlled crystal
oscillator running at approximately 60. 947 MHz is multiplied by nine in a transistor
multiplier and filtered through a narrow band cavity filter. The output from the multi-
plier is then split with a hybrid, one output providing the system local oscillator, the
other output feeding a mixer via a circulator and a 20 dB pad. The LO port of this
mixer is fed with +7 dBm at the modulating frequency from the cavity. The IF output
of this mixer is then amplified and mixed with the 3. 72 160 kHz signal from the digital
divide circuits. The output of this mixer is amplified and passed through a low-pass
filter and applied to the voltage-controlled crystal oscillator. With this phase-locked
loop in a "locked" condition, the LO output will always be exactly 3. 72 160 kHz away
from the modulating frequency.
8
5. 46 Receiving Circuits
The receiving circuits are shown in Figure 9. The photodiode, bandpass filter,
RF amplifier, mixer, and IF amplifier are all mounted inside a double-shielded box
attached to the side of the receiving telescope. The diode and matching circuits are
contained in a separate shielded box. Care was taken to screen and decouple all supply
leads into the receiver box.
The Schmitt trigger was used rather than a straight limiter to avoid false trigger-
ing of the digital readout circuits through noise on the zero crossing of the IF signal.
The main reason for the filter in the signal line was to reject a strong signal at 500 MHz
that results from a longitudinal mode of oscillation in the laser. This signal was rejected
because of the possibility of intermodulation products in the mixer.
5. 47 Integrating Phase Detector
The 3. 7 kHz start (reference) and stop (signal) square waves enter the phase
detector through D-type flip-flops and both are delayed by one clock pulse. (The clock
is about 20 MHz.)
The output of gate A, pin 14, will be a burst of clock pulses at the 3. 7 kHz IF,
the number of pulses being proportional to the phase difference between the signal and
reference IF waveforms. The clock pulses are then gated into the display counter (F,
etc. ) via the counters B, C, D and the flip-flop E.
The circuitry permits the averaging of phase differences for 100, 1000, or
10, 000 cycles of the IF. For example, for averaging 100 cycles of the intermediate
frequency, the counter B divides the clock pulses representing phase shift by 100.
After 100 IF cycles, determined by the "enable" counters, the clock pulses accumulated
in the display counter are gated into the display.
Operation is similar in the averaging of 1000, or 10,000, cycles and the display
counter always counts up in increments of 0. 001 cm.
9
6. 0 Theoretical Performance of Instrument
6. 1 Si nag atio
The transmitted light beam is attenuated somewhat by the various optical com-
ponents and the actual transmitted power is about 1 mW. With a 1" target retroreflec-
tor, a beam divergence of 0. 8 milliradian and a 3" diameter receiving mirror, the
power at the photodiode is about 0.2 mW. This results in such a high signal-to-noise
ratio that negligible phase noise results.
There are other sources of noise, however, that can only be evaluated by mea-
surement. The other noise contributions come from A. M. noise on the laser and intensity
fluctuations of the returned light due to atmospheric irregularities and instabilities, The
noise contribution from the laser was measured in the lab and was found to be negligible.
6.2 Signal Leakage
Any small signal at the modulating frequency finding its way into the receiver will
add to the desired signal and produce phase errors which will in turn produce cyclic
errors in the measured distance with a spatial periodicity of half a wavelength (27. 3 cm).
The isolation required between the inside of the cavity and the input to the receiver is
about 140 dB to keep phase errors as low as 0. Or.
6. 3 Oscillator Stability
The required stability for the crystal oscillator for an accuracy of ± 0. 1 mm
in 60 m is 1 part in 6 x 10 5 which is easy to achieve with a crystal oscillator in a tem-
perature enclosed environment.
6. 4 Atmospheric Effects
The atmosphere affects the instrument in several different ways.
1) Short term effects lar fluctuations in the beam. When a
beam of light is projected over a path close to the ground it is subject to turbulence
that can be severe at times. During our tests we found angular deviations as much as
0.2 milliradian peak to peak. This caused the returned signal to vary greatly in strength
and at times drop to zero. As would be expected, under these conditions the accuracy of
the instrument was decreased. This condition occurred only rarely, generally when the
dndp per mm Hgt °C
-10 4. 1005 x 10-7
0 3.9504 x 10-7
10 3.8109 x 10-7
20 3.6809 x 10-7
30 3.5595 x 10-7
- 10 -
weather was sunny and calm. Our experiments with the optical reference platform on
the 140-foot telescope suggest that these effects are greatly reduced a few feet above
the surface of the ground.
2) Short term effects giving ges in refractive index. The effects
mentioned above are due to "blobs" of air at slightly different temperatures through
the beam. These blobs will have the effect of continually changing the effective refrac-
tive index of the light path. No calculations have been made on this effect: experiments
show it to be very small.
3) Variation in refractive index with atmos eheric conditions. The group
refractive index of air is given by the equation
(n -1)_go .._.P...._ 5. 5 e x 10-8 n = 1 + x —g t 760 t 1 + 273. 15
1 +
273. 15
where ngo
= group refractive index of air at 0 °C, 760 mm Hg, water vapor pres-
sure = 0, 0. 3% CO 2 = 1. 000300 for the helium neon laser frequency.
p = pressure in mm Hg.
e = partial pressure of water vapor in mm Hg.
t = temperature in °C.
From this equation we obtain the following:
dna) dp for constant t
pmmHg t °C
dnat constant pressuredt
- 11. 8426 x 10-7
-10.9914 x 10-7
-10.2288 x 10-7
-9. 5428 x 10-7
-8.9237 x 10-7
760
760
760
760
760
-10
0
10
20
30
---- per °Cdt
dnde = O. 55 x 10
-7 per mm Hg and changes negligibly with tem-
perature and pressure. The effects of varying e from a dry to a saturated atmosphere
change the range of 60 meters by less than 0. 1 mm.
To give a 0. 1 mm accuracy in a 60 meter range, we need to know:
Temperature to approximately 1. 5 °C
Pressure to approximately 4 mm Hg
We anticipate that in use on a telescope a reference target would be used to
calibrate out instrumental and atmospheric instabilities so even the simple corrections
outlined above may be unnecessary.
7. 0 Tests with Instrument
The first tests were performed over short path lengths in the laboratory. The
target was moved on a micrometer stage and the calibration of the instrument checked
and found to be correct.
As usual with this kind of project, there were many different configurations
tried and discarded. Perhaps the most significant of these was the way in which the
reference waveform was derived. Initially we felt that the "safest" way of deriving
the reference waveform was to split the outgoing light and use a second photodiode and
mixer to obtain the IF signal. After careful testing we found this to be unnecessary and
used the more direct approach shown in the block diagram.
- 12 -
The instrument in its early days had the signal photodiode, mixer and IF ampli-
fier in separate boxes. We found this to be far from ideal so far as leakage was con-
cerned: much better performance was obtained when all these components were packaged
together in one doubly-shielded box.
The outdoor tests were performed over a 60 m range (total path = 120 meters) with
the instrument in the Reber dish building and the reflector on a micrometer bench in a
small hut. The photographs in Figures 11, 12 and 13 show the arrangement.
The instrument stability over the 60 m range was first checked and gave the re-
sults shown in Figure 14, curve A.
The target was then moved in increments of one inch over a total of 32 inches and
the digital readout recorded for each inch. A typical result is shown in Table 2. For a
360° phase change the display will read 27.307 cm, so this number is added to the dis-
played number at each crossover.
An analysis of the results given in Table 2 gives a slope of 2. 540180 cm/in and
a standard deviation on a single measurement of 0. 00757 cm. The errors for each inch
are plotted in curve B, Figure 14, and can be seen to be not noise-like but follow a cyclic
pattern. This cyclic error is made clearer in the results of Figure 14, curve C. We
subtracted out the repetitive features of curve C with the results shown in curve E which
yielded a standard deviation of ± 0. 043 mm on a single reading. The cyclic errors are,
we think, due to leakage of the modulating signal into the receiver.
These results suggest that the accuracy of an engineered instrument may well be
better than 0. 05 mm.
- 13 -
8. 0 Telescope Install ation
A possible way of installing the instrument on a telescope is shown in Figure 16.
B is regarded as a fixed point near the vertex of the dish and C is a fixed point near the
focus. The distance from the instrument reference plane to the reflector at D via the
mirror at B is first measured. Mirror B is then tilted out of the beam and the distance
from the instrument to D via mirror C is measured.
Provided the angle CDB is less than 45° a single corner cube may be used: for
angles of incidence separated by more than 45° the reflector assembly would have to use
two corner cubes.
One possible way of steering the mirrors would be use a coarse positioning sys-
tem (several arc minutes) to direct the beam onto the corner cube and then servo control
the mirror via a quadrant detector in the returned beam. With the mirror servo con-
trolled in this manner the time taken to go from target to target would be very short,
certainly less than one second.
A system such as this would be necessary when attempting to survey the 140-foot
at different telescope positions as we know the focal point moves by about 1/2". With an
open loop system this movement would result in misdirecting the beam onto the reflector.
A good first installation on the 140-foot would be to incorporate the mirror at B
with the instrument so making a complete unit and just measure the path ABD for about
ten reflectors. The reflectors could be made to use existing target holes. This installa-
tion would require virtually no telescope time and the structure at the vertex is ideal for
mounting the instrument. If these first tests were successful it would be a simple matter
to add another mirror at the focal point.
- 14 -
9. 0 Future Development
If we continue work on this instrument the next step will almost certainly be tele-
scope installation of a more engineered version of the present instrument.
There is another development that may be worth pursuing and that is using the
surface of the dish as the reflector. Argon lasers (or CO 2) are now readily available with
output powers of several watts. The output of such a laser, when focused to a spot on the
surface of the dish, would provide adequate power to the receiver just by scattering.
It will be realized that this report deals mainly with observation to the distant end
of the 60 m baseline. The location of the zero-point of the instrument has not been deter-
mined. However, the stability observations (paragraph 7) determine that both these points
remain stable to better than ± 0. 1 mm. In practice, short range measurements would be
made to reference targets close to the instrument as well as long range measurements to
targets of interest.
In conclusion, we may say the instrument in its present form satisfies the re-
quirements of the 65 meter telescope (1 0. 1 mm RMS) and when rebuilt in a form suitable
for use on a telescope there are indications that this accuracy may be doubled.
10.0 Acknowledgments
C. Pace in Charlottesville who designed and built the digital circuits, Dr. J. W.
Findlay who worked on the testing of the instrument and analyzed the results, and Steve
Mayor and Ralph Becker in Green Bank who built the instrument.
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7 —
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ide
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cuit
s
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Fig
ure
10 —
Inte
gra
ting P
has
e D
etec
tor
-rom
ism
",
Fig
ure
11
— P
ho
tog
rap
h o
f T
est
Ran
ge
- 26 -
IP
" viikdokAmazoril„,„„:
Figure 12 — Photograph of Instrument in Reber Dish Building
A:A1
,2;1
:0
amis
tio
ttee
WIN
NW
EA
O,
:4;,40
1111
1k111
1111
1111
1111
1011
1101
,645
,,,„
Fig
ure
13
— P
ho
tog
rap
h o
f M
icro
met
er B
ench
inute
RESULTS
INSTRUMENT STABILITY — OVER RANGE OF 60 METERS
DISTANCE MEASUREMENT — OVER RANGE OF 60 METERS
bag
Figure 14 — Graph of Results
Figure 15 — Photograph of Corner Cube Reflector
SERVO CONTROLLEDMIRROR
ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS REQUREDFOR TRIANGULATION MEASURMENTS
QUADRANTDETECTOR
DISTANCE MEASURINGINSTRUMENT
■SERVO CONTROL
1•* ONE OF MIRROR AXIS
SERVO CONTROL
BEAM SPLITTER
RETURN BEAMOF OTHER AXIS
POSSIBLE TELESCOPEI NS TALLATION
- 30 -
Figure 16 — Possible Telescone Installation
TA
BL
E 1
Sum
mar
y of
Dif
fere
nt F
orm
s of
Mod
ulat
ed L
ight
Bea
m I
nstr
umen
ts
Man
ufac
ture
ran
dM
odel
Lig
htSo
urce
Mod
u-la
ting
Freq
uenc
y_
_
Mea
-su
rem
ent
Tim
eA
ccur
acy
Rea
dout
Pha
seM
easu
rem
ent
Pri
ncip
leR
emar
ks
_
Ple
ssey
Mod
el M
A 1
00In
frar
edli
ght
emit
-tin
g di
ode.
75 M
Hz
. 3 se
cs1
mm
Dir
ect
Dig
ital
Dis
play
Mix
ed to
10
kHz
and
switc
hed
agai
nst i
nter
nal
refe
renc
e pa
th.
Zie
ssSM
-11
1In
frar
edli
ght
emit
-tin
g di
ode.
15 M
Hz
App
rox.
20 s
ecs
± 1
cm
Dir
ect
Dig
ital
Dis
pla
y
Dir
ect
Dig
ital
Dis
iiay
Mec
ha.n
i-ca
l.S
Mix
ed to
IF
and
com
pare
ddi
rect
ly.
Mix
ed to
4 k
Hz
and
com
pare
ddi
rect
ly.
Cos
ts$5
0,00
0S
pect
ra-P
hysi
csG
eodo
lite
Hew
lett
-Pac
kard
Nat
iona
l Phy
sics
Lab
orat
ory
Eng
land
Mek
omet
er I
II
Hel
ium
neo
nla
ser.
Infr
ared
diod
e.
Fla
sh tu
be
50 M
Hz
10 s
ecs
± 1
mm
25 M
Hz
Dep
ends
on oper
ator
.
± 2
mm
Mix
ed to
25
kHz
and
com
pare
dw
ith
refe
renc
epa
th. N
ulle
d by
oper
ator
.
492
MH
z
_ Dep
ends
on oper
ator
.
2.5
secs
± 0
.1 mm
Mec
hani
-ca
l.P
hase
s nu
lled
opti
call
y by
mec
hani
cally
chan
ging
pat
hle
ngth
.
Not
com
-m
erci
ally
avai
labl
e.
NR
AO
Des
crib
ed in
this
rep
ort.
Hel
ium
neo
nla
ser.
550
MH
z±
0.0
7m
mD
irec
tD
igita
lR
eado
ut
Mix
ed t
o 3.
7kH
z an
d co
m-
pare
d di
rect
ly.
- 32 -
TABLE 2
Test Over 60m Path
Slope ---- -2. 541099 ± 0. 000145 cm
Intercept 82. 2613 ± O. 0027 cm
RMS (10 ± 0. 00757 cm
Slope Corrected for Atmosphere = -2. 541099 x 0. 99964 = -2. 540180 cm
MicrometerPosition
Inch
DigitalReadout
cm
Readout Error
cm
0. 9483. 4926. 0308. 564
11. 10613. 65116. 20018. 73521. 26123. 80926. 351
1. 5944. 1416. 6719. 211
11. 75614. 30516. 85619. 38821. 92224. 45227. 004
2. 2364. 7797. 3149. 841
12. 39814. 94417. 49720. 02922. 56325. 106
0. 9483. 4926. 0308. 564
11. 10613. 65116. 20018. 73521. 26123. 80926. 35128. 90131. 44833. 97836. 51839. 06341. 61244. 16346. 69549. 22951. 75954. 31156. 84959. 39261. 92764. 45467. 01169. 55772. 11074. 64277. 17679. 719
-0. 002-0. 005-0. 002+0. 005+0. 005+0. 001-0. 007- O. 001+0. 014+0. 007+0. 006-0. 003-0. 009+0. 002+0. 004
0. 000-0. 008-0. 018.-0. 009-0. 002+0. 009- 0. 002+0. 001- 0. 001+0. 006+0. 020+0. 004- 0. 001-O. 013- 0. 004+0. 003+0. 001
3231302928272625242322212019181716151413121110
987654321