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    • Accelerometer (Inertial Sensor)
    • Optomechanical resonator
    • Interferometer
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Laboratory of Space Systems and Optomechanics

Texas A&M University College of Engineering

Development of Heterodyne Interferometer


  • Optical configuration of the heterodyne interferometer adopts spatially separate two frequency beams to prevent frequency and polarization mixing, thus eliminates periodic errors
  • Objective: design, build and experimentally verify
    • Thermally stable,
    • Compact,
    • Interferometer without periodic error
  • Application:
    • Industry such as precise measurement of stage motion and machine control
    • Scientific research such as space geodesy
  • Results obtained:
    • Achieved picometer-level displacement sensitivities in air over frequencies above 100 MHz.
    • Verified higher sensitivity of 3 pm, higher thermal stability by a factor of two and periodic-error free performance
    • Achieved short and long-term stabilities of the system during stationary and dynamic measurements
    • Currently we are working on a single block interferometer and fiber interferometer

Researchers Involved:

  • Xiangyu Guo
  • Felipe Guzman

Relevant Publications:

  • A compact high-precision periodic-error-free heterodyne interferometer,  J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 37, B11-B18 (2020) – Ki-Nam Joo, Erin Clark, Yanqi Zhang, Jonathan D. Ellis, and Felipe Guzmán

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Research
    • Accelerometer (Inertial Sensor)
    • Optomechanical resonator
    • Interferometer
  • Application
    • Gravitational Wave Detection
    • Space geodesy & Planet Exploration
    • Inertial Navigation System (GF-INS)
  • Group Members
  • Publications
  • Test facilities
  • Employment

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