A new method for the measurement of the linewidth enhancement factor of semiconductor lasers is presented, based on the interferometric self-mixing effect. It is a fast and easy to perform method that does not require radio frequency nor optical spectrum measurements. A small fraction of the emitted light is backreflected into the laser cavity by a remote target driven by a sine waveform. The mixing of the returned and the lasing fields generates a modulation of the optical output power in the form of an interferometric waveform, with a shape that depends on the optical feedback strength and the linewidth enhancement factor /spl alpha/, according to the well-known Lang-Kobayashi theory. We show that the value of /spl alpha/ can be retrieved from a simple measurement of two characteristic time intervals of the interferometric waveform. Experimental results obtained on different laser diodes show an accuracy of /spl plusmn/6.5%.

Approaches that are, to our knowledge, novel, are proposed in this paper to improve the accuracy performance of self-mixing interferometry (SMI) for displacement measurement. First, the characteristics associated with signals observed in SMI systems are studied, based on which a new procedure is proposed for achieving accurate estimation of the laser phase. The studies also revealed the reasons for the inherent errors associated with the existing SMI-based techniques for displacement measurement. Then, this paper presents a new method for estimating the optical feedback level factor (denoted by C) in real time. Combining the new algorithms for estimating the laser phase and updating C value, the paper finally presents a novel technique for displacement measurement with improved accuracy performance in contrast to existing techniques. The proposed technique is verified by both simulation and experimental data.

When phase shifting profilometry (PSP) is employed for 3-D shape measurement, the object must be kept static during the projection and acquisition of the multiple fringe patterns. Errors will occur when the object moves and if the projection and capture of fringe patterns are not fast enough. In this paper, a new approach is proposed to tackle the problem, consisting of two steps. Firstly, the rotation matrix and translation vector describing the movement of the object are estimated using a set of marks placing on the surface of the object. Then the expressions of the fringe patterns under the influence of 2-D object movement are derived, which are employed to determine the correct phase map, leading to accurate measurement of the profile. Simulations and experiments are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Phase unwrapping is an important and challenging issue in fringe pattern profilometry. In this Letter we propose an approach to recover absolute phase maps of two fringe patterns with selected frequencies. Compared to existing temporal multiple frequency algorithms, the two frequencies in our proposed algorithm can be high enough and thus enable efficient and accurate recovery of absolute phase maps. Experiment results are presented to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed technique.

An iterative frequency domain equalization approach for coded single-carrier block transmissions over frequency selective channels is developed by using the recently proposed generalized approximate message passing (GAMP) algorithm. Compared with the low-complexity iterative frequency domain linear minimum mean square error (FD-LMMSE) equalization, the proposed approach can achieve significant performance gain with slight complexity increase.