The background and principle of zero-crossing point locking technology are introduced in this paper. An experimental locking system is designed to realize fast locking of zero-crossing point, and the results of locking is studied by analyzing zero-crossing point locking signal. In the distance measurement of femtosecond pulsed laser, a crystal produces the balanced cross-correlation (BCC) signal, which signifies the time offset of the target pulses with respect to the reference pulses. By continuously pulling this signal to zero-crossing point, the locking system provides a closed loop control process, which ensures the stability of the zero-crossing point and the precision of measurement. This locking system is mainly made up by five sections. As a core section of system, P-I circuit can optimize the locking state by changing parameters. A frequency counter referenced to the rubidium atomic clock is used to measure the pulse repetition rate with a stability of 10-12 in the sampling rate of 10s in 24 hours, which is helpful to analyze the measurement precision. In the experiment, the result of zero-crossing point lock can reach to 15mV, in other words, the range of amplitude variation can be reduced to less than 15mV after locking. With the repetition rate data evaluated, the jitter of the pulse repetition rate is within 25Hz in the sampling time of 15s after locking the zero-crossing point. It is proved that the locking system designed has a high practical value in the distance and vibration measurement of femtosecond pulsed laser.
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