Pulse-to-pulse alignment technique based on synthetic-wavelength interferometry of optical frequency combs for distance measurement

A synthetic-wavelength interferometry of optical frequency combs is proposed for the pulse-to-pulse alignment in absolute distance measurement. The synthetic wavelength derived from the virtual second harmonic and the real second harmonic is used to bridge the interference intensity peak-finding method and the heterodyne interferometric phase measurement, so that the pulse-to-pulse alignment can be linked directly to single-wavelength heterodyne interferometry. The experimental results demonstrate that the distance measured by the peak-finding method with micrometer accuracy can be improved to the nanometer level by applying the method proposed.