An autocorrelator-interferometer used to determine the pulse width of a pulsed laser used in two-photon endoscopy

Abstract

An autocorrelator-inferometer was designed to correctly assess the pulse width of pulse laser used in two photon endoscopy. The path length of the light was altered using a retro-reflecting corner cube attached to a 6880 galvanometer optical scanner controlled by a 671 series micro-max controller (both products by Cambridge Technologies Inc.) The scanner was selected due to its ability to traverse very small rotations with a constant angular velocity, thereby reducing any non-linearities (with respect to time) in the autocorrelation. The projected results of this autocorrelator suggest it can be used to analyze electromagnetic waves with pulses on the order of a couple picoseconds, however, due to an imbalance of the scanner's shaft, the device was broken before any tests could be performed. A preliminary analysis suggests that a circular shaft attachment could be used to prevent this problem in the future.