Sinusoidal frequency modulation on laser diode for frequency stabilization and displacement measuring interferometry

Abstract

In this paper, we propose the sinusoidal frequency modulation on a laser diode (LD) to achieve both frequency stabilization of the LD and displacement measurement with a homodyne interferometer. The central frequency of the LD is stabilized to a Doppler broadened absorption line of an iodine (I2) molecule near the wavelength of 633 nm. The frequency of the LD is modulated across the absorption line and synchronous detection is utilized to detect the absorption signal. A simple and low-cost homodyne displacement-measuring interferometer can be constructed that can attain high measurement resolution.