High-precision diode-laser-based temperature measurement for air refractive index compensation

Tuomas Hieta, Mikko Merimaa, Markku Vainio, Jeremias Seppä, Antti Lassila

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

    20 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    We present a laser-based system to measure the refractive index of air over a long path length. In optical distance measurements, it is essential to know the refractive index of air with high accuracy. Commonly, the refractive index of air is calculated from the properties of the ambient air using either Ciddor or Edlén equations, where the dominant uncertainty component is in most cases the air temperature. The method developed in this work utilizes direct absorption spectroscopy of oxygen to measure the average temperature of air and of water vapor to measure relative humidity. The method allows measurement of temperature and humidity over the same beam path as in optical distance measurement, providing spatially well-matching data. Indoor and outdoor measurements demonstrate the effectiveness of the method. In particular, we demonstrate an effective compensation of the refractive index of air in an interferometric length measurement at a time-variant and spatially nonhomogeneous temperature over a long time period. Further, we were able to demonstrate 7 mK RMS noise over a 67 m path length using a 120 s sample time. To our knowledge, this is the best temperature precision reported for a spectroscopic temperature measurement.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)5990 - 5998
    JournalApplied Optics
    Volume50
    Issue number31
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2011
    MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

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