Position sensor for a fast steering mirror

摘要

A free-space optical transceiver includes a repositionable mirror for receiving and sending light beams with another transceiver. To properly align the light beams, the position of the mirror is determined in using a position sensor. The position sensor is mounted within a base substructure that is coupled to a steerable mirror substructure containing the mirror. The position sensor reflects sensor light off of the mirror to determine the position of the mirror along two different axes. The position sensor includes an optical element for shaping the sensor light. The components of the position sensor are mounted to the base substructure such that alignment of the position sensor is not required. Further, by coupling the position sensor to the base substructure and not the steerable mirror substructure, the moment of inertia and center of gravity of the steerable mirror substructure is improved, thereby improving the steering responsiveness of the mirror.

主权项

1. An optical device comprising:
a base substructure comprising a mirror opening and a cavity comprising a first portion and a second portion both adjacent to the mirror opening and allowing steered light to pass along a first optical axis and second optical axis, respectively; a steerable mirror substructure coupled to the base substructure and comprising:
a gimbal assembly configured to rotate two different axes about a center point; anda mirror coupled to a gimbal assembly, a center of the mirror positioned at the center point, the mirror positioned so as to substantially fill the mirror opening such that steered light passing along the first optical axis reflects from the mirror along the second optical axis; a printed circuit board (PCB) coupled to the base substructure and comprising:
a light source coupled to the PCB and oriented to emit sensor light towards the mirror; anda detector coupled to the PCB and oriented to receive sensor light reflected from the mirror; and an optical element coupled to the base substructure, the optical element directing sensor light from the light source to the mirror, and directing reflected sensor light from the mirror to the detector.