Square wave modulation to eliminate the influence of Wollaston prism nonlinear coefficients on spatial angle measurement

A spatial angle measurement model was established based on polarizing beam splitting principle of Wollaston prism. The influence of exit light intensity from Wollaston prism on the system angle measurement accuracy was made by theoretical analysis and simulation briefly. The simulation results show that the exit light intensity deviates from the Malus'law, a certain nonlinear deviation is presented, and there is a great influence of the nonlinear deviation of Wollaston prism on the angle measurement accuracy of spatial angle measurement, the practical value of the device is reduced. Furthermor, a method of square wave magneto-optical modulation was presented to improve the angle measurement accuracy, which effectively eliminated the influence of nonlinear coefficients of Wollaston prism, fluctuations of magneto-optical glass modulation, differences of circuit gain and fluctuations of the light intensity. Finally, by doing relevant experiments, the system angle measurement accuracy can reach 15 in the range of-8to +8by using this method.