A dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber (EDF) ring laser was developed and its application to step-height measurement using two-wavelength self-mixing interferometry (SMI) was demonstrated. The fiber laser can emit two different wavelengths without any laser mode competition. It is composed of two EDF laser cavities and employs fiber Bragg gratings to determine which wavelengths are emitted. The step heights can be measured using SMI of the two wavelengths, and the maximum height that can be measured is half the synthetic wavelength of the two wavelengths. A step height of 1mm was constructed using two gauge blocks and then measured using the laser. The measurement was repeated ten times, and the standard deviation of the measurements was 2.4nm.

A stabilized interferometric displacement measurement system, which is suitable for on-line measurement and is endowed with large measurement range and high resolution, is proposed. The system is stabilized by a feedback loop which compensates the influences induced by the environmental disturbances and makes the system stabile enough for on-line measurement. Two different wavelengths are working simultaneously in the system. The measurement range which is determined by the synthetic-wavelength interferometric signal is expanded to the order of millimeter, while the measurement resolution which is determined by one of the single-wavelength interferometric signal is the order of sub-nanometer.

Optical traps formed in hollow-core fibers (HCFs) can overcome several limitations of conventional free-space optical tweezers. One of the key issues is to load particles from free space into the hollow core with high efficiency, in which process the capture dynamics of the particles in front of the HCF endface plays an important role. In this work, a comprehensive model of the trapping and capture process of the dielectric particles in front of HCF is established by taking into account the features of the fiber modes and the motional parameters of the particles. Stable capture positions are predicted based on analytical calculations of optical forces, and the dependencies of the equilibrium axial trapping position on the beam numerical aperture, the fiber core and particle diameters are provided. In addition, the trajectories and the capture dynamics of the particles are studied by solving the equation of motion for the particles under the impact of optical forces, predicting feasible parameter ranges of the initial amplitude and direction of particle launch velocity for achieving successful particle capture in front of HCF. The results can provide guidance for further improving the particle-loading efficiencies of the HCF-based optical traps, which may find applications of flying particle sensors and long-range particle binding in HCFs.