Šimon Řeřucha

Novel Principle of Contactless Gauge Block Calibration

In this paper, a novel principle of contactless gauge block calibration is presented. The principle of contactless gauge block calibration combines low-coherence interferometry and laser interferometry. An experimental setup combines Dowell interferometer and Michelson interferometer to ensure a gauge block length determination with direct traceability to the primary length standard. By monitoring both gauge block sides with a digital camera gauge block 3D surface measurements are possible too. The principle presented is protected by the Czech national patent No. 302948.

The BAARA (Biological AutomAted RAdiotracking) system: a new approach in ecological field studies.

Radiotracking is an important and often the only possible method to explore specific habits and the behaviour of animals, but it has proven to be very demanding and time-consuming, especially when frequent positioning of a large group is required. Our aim was to address this issue by making the process partially automated, to mitigate the demands and related costs. This paper presents a novel automated tracking system that consists of a network of automated tracking stations deployed within the target area. Each station reads the signals from telemetry transmitters, estimates the bearing and distance of the tagged animals and records their position. The station is capable of tracking a theoretically unlimited number of transmitters on different frequency channels with the period of 5–15 seconds per single channel. An ordinary transmitter that fits within the supported frequency band might be used with BAARA (Biological AutomAted RAdiotracking); an extra option is the use of a custom-programmable transmitter with configurable operational parameters, such as the precise frequency channel or the transmission parameters. This new approach to a tracking system was tested for its applicability in a series of field and laboratory tests. BAARA has been tested within fieldwork explorations of Rousettus aegyptiacus during field trips to Dakhla oasis in Egypt. The results illustrate the novel perspective which automated radiotracking opens for the study of spatial behaviour, particularly in addressing topics in the domain of population ecology.

Spatial activity and feeding ecology of the endangered northern population of the Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus)

We studied ranging and feeding behavior of Cypriot fruit bats during the summer and winter, which are critical periods with limited food supply and adverse conditions. Seasonal changes in ranging behavior were characterized by a steep increase in the size of core feeding areas and home ranges from summer to winter. Males and females did not differ in the size of summer and winter core areas and home ranges, but they differed in the distance they traveled to summer feeding sites. Summer food consisted of fruits of Ficus carica and flowers of Agave americana. Winter food consisted of dates, fruits of Melia azedarach, Citrus reticulata, C. limon, Myrtus communis, and the flowers of Eucalyptus spp. Males and females differed as to the proportion of time they spent feeding on different food types, which may be explained by sexual differences related to food quality requirements. Summer foraging activity tended to be in areas with water bodies and larger fruit orchards. Winter foraging activity occurred more in areas with larger fruit orchards, a higher number of citrus plantations and date palms, typically located in built-up areas. The body condition of the bats was worse during the summer, which we assume was the result of their more limited diet during this period, making summer a more stressful period for them than winter. Active conservation management of Cypriot fruit bats should include the construction of artificial water sources in the vicinity of fruit orchards, but also controversial practices such as supporting the occurrence of particular nonnative plant species, thereby enhancing food availability in critical times of the year.

Narrow-linewidth tunable laser working at 633 nm suitable for industrial interferometry

Semiconductor lasers found a foothold in many fields of human activities, mainly thanks to its small size, low cost and high energy efficiency. Recent methods for accurate distance measurement in industrial practice use principles of laser interferometry, which are based on lasers operating in the visible spectrum. When the laser beam is visible the alignment of the industrial interferometer makes the measuring process easier. Traditional lasers for these purposes for many decades - HeNe gas laser - have superb coherence properties but small tunable range. On the other hand laser diodes are very useful lasers but only if the active layer of the semiconductor equips with a passive selective element that will increase the quality of their own resonator and also prevents the structure of its higher longitudinal modes. The main aim of the work is a design of the laser source based on a new commercial available laser diode with Distributed Bragg Reflector structure, butterfly package and fibre coupled output. The ultra-low noise injection current source, stable temperature controller and supply electronic equipment were developed with us and experimentally tested with this laser for the best performances required of the industrial interferometry field. The work also performs a setup for frequency noise properties investigation with an unbalanced fibre based Mach-Zehnder interferometer and 10 m long fibre spool inserted in the reference arm. The work presents the way to developing the narrow-linewidth operation the DBR laser with the wide tunable range up to more than 1 nm of the operation wavelength at the same time. Both capabilities predetermine this complex setup for the industrial interferometry application as they are the long distance surveying or absolute scale interferometry.

Active Angular Alignment of Gauge Blocks in Double-Ended Interferometers

This paper presents a method implemented in a system for automatic contactless calibration of gauge blocks designed at ISI ASCR. The system combines low-coherence interferometry and laser interferometry, where the first identifies the gauge block sides position and the second one measures the gauge block length itself. A crucial part of the system is the algorithm for gauge block alignment to the measuring beam which is able to compensate the gauge block lateral and longitudinal tilt up to 0.141 mrad. The algorithm is also important for the gauge block position monitoring during its length measurement.

Automatic unit for measuring refractive index of air based on Ciddor equation and its verification using direct interferometric measurement method

In scanning probe microscopy laser interferometers are usually used for measuring the position of the probe tip with a metrological traceability. As the most of the AFM setups are designed to work under standard atmospheric conditions the changes of the refractive index of air have an influence to measured values of the length with 1.0exp(-4) relatively. In order to achieve better accuracies the refractive index of air has to be monitored continuously and its instantaneous value has to be used for compensating the lengths measured by all of the interferometric axes. In the presented work we developed a new concept of an electronic unit which is able to monitor the refractive index of air on basis of measurement of ambient atmospheric conditions: temperature, humidity, pressure of the air and the CO2 concentration. The data processing is based on Ciddor equation for calculating the refractive index of air. The important advantage of the unit is a very low power consumption of the electronics so the unit causes only negligible temperature effects to the measured environment. The accuracy of the indirect measuring method employed by the unit was verified. We tested the accuracy in comparison with a direct method of measuring refractive index of air based on an evacuatable cell placed at the measuring arm of a laser interferometer. An experimental setup used for verification is presented together with a set of measurements describing the performance. The resulting accuracy of the electronic unit falls to the 4.1 exp(-7) relatively.

Length characterization of a piezoelectric actuator travel with a mode-locked femtosecond laser

The development of absolute distance measurement methods have been enabled by new kind of lasers, special digital signal processing electronics, algorithms and new materials for optics. The phenomenon of the mode-lock of the femtosecond pulse laser increased a number of potential applications with distance surveying where that stable generator of very short and periodically repeated coherent pulses can be used. The main aim of the work is a description of precise measuring method with absolute scale which is able to determine the length of unknown distance with direct traceability to a time standard. The principle of the method is based on a passive optical cavity with mirrors keeping measured distance, in our case a piezoelectric actuator. Time spacing of short femtosecond pulses generated by mode-locked laser is optically phase locked to the cavity free spectral range. A value of the repetition frequency of the laser determines the measured distance. The exact value of the frequency/period of the femtosecond pulse train is detected by a frequency counter. The counting gate of the counter is synchronized with a highly stable oscillator disciplined by H-maser or GPS received signal from atomic clocks. The work shows methods how to overcome problems with dispersive optics in the passive cavity and a way of phase lock of the femtosecond laser repetition rate to free spectral range of the cavity. This measuring technique is demonstrated on length characterization of the piezoelectric transducer which belongs to ultra-precise positioning actuators.

Interferometric measurement system for cost effective e-beam writer

The reliability of nanometer track writing in the large scale chip manufacturing process depends mainly on a precise positioning of the e-beam writer moving stage. The laser interferometers are usually employed to control this positioning, but their complicated optical scheme leads to an expensive instrument which increases the e-beam writers manufacturing costs. We present a new design of an interferometric system useful in a currently developed cost effective e-beam writers. Our approach simplifies the optical scheme of known industrial interferometers and shifts the interference phase detection complexity from optical domain to the digital signal processing part. Besides the effective cost, the low number of optical components minimizes the total uncertainty of this measuring instrument. The scheme consists of a single wavelength DFB laser working at 1530 nm, one beam splitter, measuring and reference reflectors and one photo-detector at the interferometer output. The DFB laser is frequency modulated by slight changes of injection current while the interference intensity signal is processed synchronously. Our algorithm quantifies the phase as two sinusoidal waveforms with a phase offset equal to the quarter of the DFB laser wavelength. Besides the computation of these quadrature signals, the scale linearization techniques are used for an additional suppression of optical setup imperfections, noise and the residual amplitude modulation caused by the laser modulation. The stage position is calculated on basis of the DFB laser wavelength and the processed interference phase. To validate the precision and accuracy we have carried out a pilot experimental comparison with a reference interferometer over the 100 mm measurement range. The first tests promise only ±2 nm deviation between simplified and the reference interferometer.

Using spatial light modulator for correction of wavefront reflected from optically rough surface

We present an experimental study of the method using a spatial light modulator for correction of the wavefront reflected from the optically rough surface. This method is based on the detection of the mutual phase differences between different regions of the wavefront that correspond to the constructive interference. We study the capabilities of this method from the metrological point of view for the ground glass samples characterized by several different levels of roughness. The resulting wavefront correction is tested in dependence on the measurement parameters settings and is verified by analyzing two specific patterns generated by the spatial light modulator.

Coordinate interferometric system for measuring the position of a sample with infrared telecom laser diode

We report on a design of an interferometric position measuring system for control of a sample stage in an e-beam writer with reproducibility of the position on nanometer level and resolution below nanometer. We introduced differential configuration of the interferometer where the position is measured with respect to a central reference point to eliminate deformations caused by thermal and pressure effects on the vacuum chamber. The reference is here the electron gun of the writer. The interferometer is designed to operate at infrared, telecommunication wavelength due to the risk of interference of stray light with sensitive photodetectors in the chamber. The laser source is here a narrow-linewidth DFB laser diode with electronics of our own design offering precision and stability of temperature and current, low-noise, protection from rf interference, and high-frequency modulation. Detection of the interferometric signal relies on a novel derivative technique utilizing hf frequency modulation and phase-sensitive detection.