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.
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.
I went to look up regenerative oscillations and but after 10 minutes I still have only a vague understanding of what that even means. My thoughts too... Do they mount the current tech within a vibration-dampening device?My high school physics is seriously failing me here.
One of the problems with mounted sensors and cameras is the vibration that you get when you drive.
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.
...assuming you don't mind having a laser pointed at your face. The mechanism here is mostly focused on changing the wavelength of the laser, not sweeping it... and it's still an electromechanical system, they're just using the photoelectric effect to change the lasing length. Which is extremely fucking cool... but it's also not sweeping the beam through 90 degrees.