A study of an air medium influence on the rectilinearity of laser ray proliferation towards the using for large distances and high-precision metrology

The influence of a turbulent air medium on a laser beam space localization precision was studied experimentally. For a helium-neon one-mode laser LGN-302 and for a solid-state multimode laser DS-670, the laser ray coordinate measurement uncertainties were determined with 1 m step for the distances up to 9 m from the laser source. It was found that the σ values at 9 m distance are equal to σ(DS-670) = 21 μm and σ(LGN-302) = 12 μm. To reduce the turbulent air medium influence on the laser ray space localization precision, the laser beam was positioned inside a heat-isolating tube. Very significant decrease of σ values was achieved at 9 m from the source: σ*(DS-670) = 2 μm and σ*(LGN-302) = 2.5 μm. The work is made within a framework of a preparation to the creation of a high-precision large-distance laser metrology to be possibly used for long linear collider component alignment.