Embedded Laser Diode Sensor

THE "EMBEDDED LASER DIODE SENSOR FOR STRUCTURAL MATERIALS," ADDRESSES SDIO'S NEEDS FOR INNOVATIVE INTEGRATED SELF-CALIBRATING SENSORS IN ADVANCED COMPOSITE MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES FOR SPACE OPERATIONS AND COMPOSITE MATERIAL QUALITY CONTROL. THE PROPOSED SEMICONDUCTOR LASER DIODE SENSOR MAKING USE OF AN EXTERNAL CAVITY COUPLING CONFIGURATION WHICH UTILIZES THE RESONATOR CAVITY AS BOTH AN OSCILLATOR/AMPLIFIER AND DETECTOR WHICH MEASURES kHz VIBRATION, SUB-MICRON DISPLACEMENT, MICRO-RADIAN TILT AND OTHER QUANTITIES THAT CAN BE MONITORED AND CORRECTED IN REAL TIME. THE SENSOR IS RELIABLE, HAS A LONG LIFETIME, USES 3 mW OF POWER OR LESS, HAS EXCELLENT PRECISION AND ACCURACY, IS INEXPENSIVE (< $10 IN QUANTITY) AND IDEALLY SUITED FOR SYSTEMS AND ARRAY INTERFACING FOR DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING. PROOF-OF-CONCEPT EXPERIMENTS FOR DISPLACEMENT HAVE ALREADY BEEN SUCCESSSFULLY CARRIED OUT WITH 820, 780, AND 740 nm DIODES. THIS RESEARCH WILL CONCENTRATE ON WAVELENTHS IN THE (VISIBLE) RANGE DOWN TO 650 TO 620 nm. THIS RECENTLY PATENTED TECHNOLOGY BUILDS ON RESEARCH FUNDING DRIVEN BY CONSUMER ELECTRONIC (CD PLAYER) TECHNOLOGY AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION BY SDIO ASSISTS LOW COST SPACE SYSTEMS AND PROVIDES FOR ADDITIONAL COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION.