Research of optical rotation measurement system based on centroid algorithm.

An optical rotation measurement system based on digital signal processor, modulated laser, and step motor rotating stage is established. Centroid algorithm featured fast and simple calculation is introduced to process light signals with or without sample to obtain the optical rotating angle through the step difference between two centroids. The system performance is proved experimentally with standard quartz tubes and glucose solutions. After various measurements, the relative error and precision of the system are determined to 0.4% and 0.004°, which demonstrates the reliable repeatability and high accuracy of whole measurement system.