Regular papers

Synthetic adjacent pulse repetition interval length method to solve integer ambiguity problem: theoretical analysis

¹ Global Center of Excellence Program -Mechanical Systems Innovation-, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
² The University of Tokyo, Department of Precision Engineering, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan

^* weidong@nanolab.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Received: 9 January 2013
Revised: 1 February 2013

Abstract

This paper describes a novel approach for realizing femtosecond optical frequency comb (FOFC)-based length measurement. This approach is based on the analogy between the phase unwrapping problem and the integer ambiguity problem. Because the conventional synthetic wavelength method can solve the former, we investigated the possibility of using a synthetic adjacent pulse repetition interval length method to solve the latter. The results of theoretical analyses and numerical investigations show the feasibility of the proposed method. Our results should contribute toward the further development of FOFC-based length measurement methods.