Nature is such that observations at far-infrared wavelengths are optimal for exploring both the nearby and distant Universe. The minute amount of energy carried by far-infrared photons, however, requires extremely sensitive instrumentation for their detection. Moreover, the instrumentation itself must be cooled to <4 K to avoid an unwanted photon noise component from self-emission, and often requires precision metrology at these temperatures. A variety of cryogenic metrology techniques have been used successfully on previous space astronomy missions, each having its own limitations. In this paper we present a fiber-based laser metrology system, designed for optical position metrology at cryogenic temperatures.

Date Published: 22 February 2018
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 10539, Photonic Instrumentation Engineering V, 105390T (22 February 2018); doi: 10.1117/12.2287466

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 10539:
Photonic Instrumentation Engineering V
Yakov G. Soskind, Editor(s)