We demonstrate a robust femtosecond LIDAR setup by using two free-running environmentally stable all-polarization-maintaining nonlinear amplified loop mirror mode-locked fiber lasers. Based on the asynchronous optical sampling method, a ranging accuracy of ±2 μm within 65 m has been achieved, as tested in an 80-m-long underground optical tunnel. Through the Kalman filter in real-time data processing, the measurement accuracy can be maintained at a 200 Hz update rate. This setup provides a practical tool for various large-scale industrial and astronomical ranging applications.

An absolute cryogenic radiometer (ACR) with a detachable optical window was designed and built for high accuracy optical radiant power measurement and photodetector spectral responsivity calibration. The ACR receiver is an electroplated pure copper cavity with a 50-μm-thick wall and inner surface coated with a specular black polymer material mixed with highly dispersible carbon nanotubes. The absorptivity of the cavity receivers was evaluated to be ≥0.9999 in the 250 nm–16 μm wavelength range and ≥0.99995 in 500 nm–16 μm. The cavity receiver works at the temperature of ～5.2 K with nanowatt-level noise-equivalent power. The relative standard uncertainty is 0.041% for the measurement of ～100 μW optical radiant power (250 nm–16 μm) and 0.015% for ～1 mW (500 nm–16 μm).

A 1550 nm all-fiber pulsed laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) based on time-domain chopping techniques is developed to overcome demodulation failures caused by multipath interference. The system adopts an adjustable configuration on pulse duration and pulse repetition frequency according to the distance. An experiment is carried out at a 25 m standoff with pulse duration of 80 ns, single pulse energy of 0.4 nJ, and pulse repetition frequency of 1 MHz. A waveform and spectrogram of the demodulated voice show that the pulsed LDV system has a good performance in long-range voice listening.

This study introduced the research and development of a portable and miniaturized system for the measurement of the refractive index of sub-microliter liquid based on a microfluidic chip. A technical method of double-beam interference, was proposed for use in the measurement. Based on this, by using a laser diode as a light source, changes in the refractive index were calculated by utilizing a complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor to detect the movement of interference fringes of the liquid. Firstly, this study simulated the effects of influencing factors on the interference infringes of two Gaussian beams, such as their spot sizes, distance between two beam spots, and detection range. Secondly, this research introduced the system design and construction of the double-beam interference method and analyzed the results of refractive index tests on sub-microliter aqueous glucose solutions with different concentrations. The measurement accuracy reached 10 ⁴ refractive index units. This system has a compact structure and is rendered portable by using batteries for its power supply. The entire system is designed to be a double Z-shaped structure with a length of about 15 cm, a width of 5 cm, and a height of about 10 cm. It can be used to measure changes in the refractive index of sub-microliter to nanoliter liquids based on the use of a microfluidic chip.

The first Asia-Pacific Comparison of Absolute Gravimeters (APMP.M.G-K1) was organized by the National Institute of Metrology (NIM) of China from December 21, 2015 to March 25, 2016 in Changping, Beijing. Our compact cold atom gravimeter (CCAG) was transported from Hangzhou to Beijing with a long distance of about 1200 km to participate in this comparison. The CCAG is the only one, to the best of our knowledge, that is based on the principle of atom interferometry among all the instruments. Absolute gravity in the indicated three test sites has been measured as requested by the organizer. The sensitivity of our CCAG is estimated to be 90 μGal/Hz, even when the measurements are carried out without any vibration isolation. Besides, the accuracy of this gravimeter has been evaluated to be about 19 μGal by considering the significant system errors. Our results show a good agreement with the given reference value.

We report a method for simultaneously and directly measuring all six-degrees-of-freedom (six-DOF) motion errors of a rotary axis. Such a method combines the principles of laser interferometry and laser collimation measurement. One reference rotary axis and two retro-reflectors are used to achieve simultaneous sensitivity to all six errors in a full-circle measuring range. As no separation models are required, our method is capable of dynamically measuring these errors in real time and conveniently determining the origin of the errors. An automatic measuring device is built. The effectiveness of our method is experimentally demonstrated.

A double-pass grating imaging spectrometer is proposed and demonstrated. The traditional entrance slit is replaced by a middle reflective slit, which is used as a spectral filter rather than a spatial filter. The light from the scene passes through the same dispersive grating twice. The full image of the scene can be obtained with a snapshot. Therefore, the stripe noise and image distortion caused by image mosaicking can be eliminated. Besides, the target is easier to be captured and focused, just like using a camera. This method can be used to obtain clearer spectral images of the scene conveniently and quickly.

Single layer lattice graphene deposited on the metal substrate can hardly be imaged by the optical microscope. In this Letter, a large field-of-view imaging ellipsometer is introduced to image single layer graphene which is deposited on a metal substrate. By adjusting the polarizer and the analyzer of imaging ellipsometer, the light reflected from surfaces of either single layer graphene or a Au film substrate can be extinguished, respectively. Thus, single layer graphene can be imaged correspondingly under brightfield or darkfield imaging modes. The method can be applied to imaging large-area graphene on a metal substrate.

A laser interferometry technique is developed to detect water surface capillary waves caused by an impinging acoustic pressure field. The frequency and amplitude of the water surface capillary waves can be estimated from the local signal data at some special points of the phase modulated interference signal, which is called the turning points. Demodulation principles are proposed to explain this method. Experiments are conducted under conditions of different intensity and different frequency driving acoustic signals. The results show the local signal data analysis can effectively estimate the amplitude and frequency of water surface capillary waves.

The pretilt angle of a twisted nematic (TN) liquid crystal display has a strong effect on viewing angles and response times of the display as well as shifting the light-leaking disclination lines into the black-matrix area within pixels of a thin-film-transistor driven TN panel for a high contrast ratio. In this Letter, we develop an optical method to determine the TN pretilt angle based on heterodyne measurements of the phase versus the incident angle of a thin TN cell subjected to out-of-plane rotations. We believe that our method of measuring phases has advantages of simpler setup and calculations, better stability, and less sensitive to ambient electromagnetic interference than the commonly used method of measuring intensities.