Method For Measuring Sub-Micron Facula At Single-Photon Level With Silicon Photomultiplier

Sub-micron faculae (light spots) at the single-photon level have important applications in many fields. This report demonstrates a method for measuring facula size at the sub-micron single-photon level indirectly. The developed method utilizes Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) as the single-photon response detectors, combined with a nano-positioning stage. The approach involves one- or two-dimensional space scanning and a deconvolution operation, which enable evaluations of the size and spatial distribution of focused facula in a single-photon-level pulsed laser. The results indicate that the average full width at half maximum of the faculae is about 0.66 µm, which is close to the nominal resolution of the objective lens of the microscope (0.42 µm). The proposed method has two key advantages: (1) it can measure sub-micron facula at the single-photon level, and (2) the sub-micron facula can easily be aligned with the detector because the array area of the avalanche photodiode cells in SiPM is usually larger than one square millimeter, and there is no need to put an optical slit, knife edge, or pinhole in front of the detector. The method described herein is applicable in weak light facula detection related fields.

A CSI-Based Indoor Positioning System Using Single UWB Ranging Correction

A fingerprint-based localization system is an economic way to solve an indoor positioning problem. However, the traditional off-line fingerprint collection stage is a time-consuming and laborious process which limits the use of fingerprint-based localization systems. In this paper, based on ubiquitous Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) equipment and a low-cost Ultra-Wideband (UWB) ranging system (with only one UWB anchor), a ready-to-use indoor localization system is proposed to realize long-term and high-accuracy indoor positioning. More specifically, in this system, it is divided into two stages: (1) an initial stage, and (2) a positioning stage. In the initial stage, an Inertial Measure Unit (IMU) is used to calculate the position using Pedestrian Dead Reckon (PDR) algorithm within a preset number of steps, and the location-related fingerprints are collected to train a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) regression model; simultaneously, in order to make the UWB ranging system adapt to the Non-Line-of-Sight (NLoS) environment, the increments of acceleration and angular velocity in IMU and the increments of single UWB ranging measures are correlated to pre-train a Supported Vector Regression (SVR). After reaching the threshold of time or step number, the system is changed into a positioning stage, and the CNN predicts the position calibrated by corrected UWB ranging. At last, a series of practical experiments are conducted in the real environment; the experiment results show that, due to the corrected UWB ranging measures calibrating the CNN parameters in every positioning period, this system has stable localization results in a comparative long-term range. Additionally, it has the advantages of stability, low cost, anti-noise, etc.

Development of XY Micro-Position Stage Based on a Shape Memory Alloy

This paper reports a novel monolithic two DoF micro-positioning stage using shape-memory-alloy (SMA) actuator. The design was fabricated in a one fabrication step and it comprises all actuation functions in a single piece of SMA. The square shaped actuator has dimensions of 10 mm × 10 mm × 0.25 mm. The device includes a moving stage in the center which is connected to four SMA springs to generate large displacement in two directions, x- and y- axes. The four SMA actuators underwent annealing process using internal joule heating by flowing electrical current through the springs. Each of SMA springs has been actuated individually by internal joule heating generated using an electrical current. The developed design has been simulated to verify thermal response and heat distribution. In addition, the micro-positioning stage was experimentally tested. The maximum displacement results of the stage are 1.1 mm and 1.1 mm along the directions of x- and y- axes, respectively. The developed micro-positioning stage has been successfully demonstrated to control the position of a small object for microscopic imaging applications.

Development of the Heterodyne Laser Encoder System for the X–Y Positioning Stage

This investigation develops a laser encoder system based on a heterodyne laser interferometer. For eliminating geometric errors, the optical structure of the proposed encoder system was carried out with the internal zero-point method. The designed structure can eliminate the geometric errors, including positioning error, straightness error, squareness error, and Abbe error of the positioning stage. The signal processing system is composed of commercial integrated circuits (ICs). The signal type of the proposed encoding system is a differential signal that is compatible with most motion control systems. The proposed encoder system is embedded in a two-dimensional positioning stage. By the experimental results of the positioning test in the measuring range of 27 mm × 27 mm, with a resolution of 15.8 nm, the maximum values of the positioning error and standard deviation are 12.64 nm and 126.4 nm, respectively, in the positioning experiments. The result shows that the proposed encoder system can fit the positioning requirements of the optoelectronic and semiconductor industries.

Air-Based Contactless Wafer Precision Positioning System

This paper presents the development of a contactless sensing system and the dynamic evaluation of an air-bearing-based precision wafer positioning system. The contactless positioning stage is a response to the trend seen in the high-tech industry, where the substrates are becoming thinner and larger to reduce the cost and increase the yield. Using contactless handling it is possible to avoid damage and contamination. The system works by floating the substrate on a thin film of air. A viscous traction force is created on the substrate by steering the airflow. A cascaded control design structure has been implemented on the contactless positioning system, where the inner loop controller (ILC) controls the actuator which steers the airflow and the outer loop controller (OLC) controls the position of the substrate by controlling the reference of the ILC. The dynamics of the ILC are evaluated and optimized for the performance of the positioning of the substrate. The vibration disturbances are also handled by the ILC. The bandwidth of the system has been improved to 300 Hz. For the OLC, a linear charge-coupled device has been implemented as a contactless sensor. The performance of the sensing system has been analysed. During control in steady-state, this resulted in a position error of the substrate of 12.9 μm RMS, which is a little more than two times the resolution. The bandwidth of the OLC is approaching 10 Hz.