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Polarization Effects Aboard the Space Interferometry MissionFor precision displacement measurements, laser metrology is currently one of the most accurate measurements. Often, the measurement is located some distance away from the laser source, and as a result, stringent requirements are placed on the laser delivery system with respect to the state of polarization. Such is the case with the fiber distribution assembly (FDA) that is slated to fly aboard the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) next decade. This system utilizes a concatenated array of couplers, polarizers and lengthy runs of polarization-maintaining (PM) fiber to distribute linearly-polarized light from a single laser to fourteen different optical metrology measurement points throughout the spacecraft. Optical power fluctuations at the point of measurement can be traced back to the polarization extinction ration (PER) of the concatenated components, in conjunction with the rate of change in phase difference of the light along the slow and fast axes of the PM fiber.
Document ID
20080013307
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Levin, Jason
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Young, Martin
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Dubovitsky, Serge
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Dorsky, Leonard
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
April 17, 2006
Subject Category
Optics
Meeting Information
Meeting: SPIE Defense and Security Symposium
Location: Orlando, FL
Country: United States
Start Date: April 17, 2006
End Date: April 21, 2006
Sponsors: International Society for Optical Engineering
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
fiber distribution
fiber optics
Heterodyne Interferometer
metrology
temperature sensitivity
polarization maintaining fiber

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