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comment by veen
veen  ·  3348 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Self-sweeping laser could dramatically shrink 3D mapping systems

Very cool. I've tried to read the primary publication. My high school physics is seriously failing me here.

I do wonder, considering the fact that this system is based on microscopic vibration, how does operate under tough conditions? One of the problems with mounted sensors and cameras is the vibration that you get when you drive.





kleinbl00  ·  3347 days ago  ·  link  ·  

They're talking vibration on the range of piezo-electric forces. The type of shocks you'd need to worry about are orders of magnitude greater. It would sort of be like worrying about the surf messing with the valve timing on the bilge pumps of your ocean liner.

thundara  ·  3348 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    My high school physics is seriously failing me here.

I went to look up regenerative oscillations and but after 10 minutes I still have only a vague understanding of what that even means.

    One of the problems with mounted sensors and cameras is the vibration that you get when you drive.

My thoughts too... Do they mount the current tech within a vibration-dampening device?

kleinbl00  ·  3347 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Basically, they've tuned the grid, the pumping frequency and the wavelength of the laser cavity so that it goes into harmonic oscillation. By doing this, they can alter the wavelength of the light that comes out the other side of the grating. It's pretty clever.

thundara  ·  3347 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Hmm, somewhat on par with my 10 minutes of not-so-thorough research... I guess I was confused as to why it was called "regenerative oscillation" and not the high-school-ese of "harmonic oscillation" and / or "constructive amplification"...

mk  ·  3348 days ago  ·  link  ·  

My guess is that the frequencies are very different. The sweeping cycle is on the order of nanoseconds (MHz), whereas vibrations due to driving are likely in the KHz range.