Georges Sagnac: A life for optics

Georges Sagnac is mostly known for the optical effect in rotating frames that he demonstrated in 1913. His scientific interests were quite diverse: they included photography, optical illusions, X-ray physics, radioactivity, the blue of the sky, anomalous wave propagation, interferometry, strioscopy, and acoustics. An optical theme nonetheless pervaded his entire œuvre. Within optics, an original theory of the propagation of light motivated most of his investigations, from an ingenious explanation of the Fresnel drag, through the discovery of the Sagnac effect, to his quixotic defense of an alternative to relativity theory. Optical analogies efficiently guided his work in other domains. Optics indeed was his true passion. He saw himself as carrying the torch of the two great masters of French optics, Augustin Fresnel and Hippolyte Fizeau. In this mission he overcame his poor health and labored against the modernist tide, with much success originally and bitter isolation in the end.     

单光束错位云纹干涉法测板的斜率和曲率

本文提出一种用高密度位相型闪耀光栅测取板的曲率和斜率的单光束错位云纹干涉法,由于这一方法具有高灵敏度。大量程和高反差的优点。可有效地用来求解板的弯曲问题。文中还给出了周边固定圆板和带缺口的方板两个应用实例。     

复合材料断裂力学参量的实验测定

本文采用三维云纹干涉仪同步测量含裂纹复合材料弯曲板的面内位移场及离面位移场，并对离面位移场云纹图进行计算机自动采集和处理，编制了云纹数字图像处理软件。文中推导了正交异性复合材料弯曲问题的离面位移场表达式，得到了弯曲板裂纹尖端位移w与应力场强度因子K1的关系式。通过实测位移，结合裂尖位移场推导出应力强度因子K1值。     

云纹干涉制栅新技术

本文介绍了两种新的光栅复制技术,它们具有快速、高质量、低成本、操作简单、使用方便、不需特殊仪器等特点.该技术从我国一般力学实验室条件出发,解决了试件栅制作困难,其中漆栅方法可极大地缩短云纹干涉方法的实验周期,该技术也为光栅测试技术的广泛应用提供了方便.     

Analysis of the fringes visibility generated by a lateral cyclic shear interferometer in the retrieval of the three-dimensional surface information of an object

We report the evaluation of the topography of an object with projected fringes generated with a lateral cyclic shear interferometer (CSI) and we then compare the topography recovery obtained with the proposed method with the one obtained from a coordinate measuring machine (CMM). We also study how the fringes visibility along the z axis affects the retrieval. Finally, we discuss the advantages and drawbacks of this profilometry system.     

How a single photon can mediate entanglement between two others

We describe a novel quantum information protocol, which probabilistically entangles two distant photons that have never interacted. Different from the entanglement swapping protocol, which requires two pairs of maximally entangled photons as the input states, as well as a Bell-state measurement (BSM), the present scheme only requires three photons: two to be entangled and another to mediate the correlation, and no BSM, in a process that we call “entanglement mediation”. Furthermore, in analyzing the paths of the photons in our arrangement, we conclude that one of them, the mediator, exchanges information with the two others simultaneously, which seems to be a new quantum-mechanical feature.     

Influence of surroundings on photorefractive effect in lithium niobate crystals

In the paper results of the investigation of the influence of electric properties of the environment surrounding LiNbO₃ crystals on photorefractive effect induced in these crystals by Gaussian Ar⁺ laser beam with various intensities are presented. We show spatial and temporal dependences of changes of the refractive index obtained experimentally in LiNbO₃: Fe and LiNbO₃: Fe:Mn samples surrounded by media with different electric conductivities and different permittivities (water, air, water solution of CaCl₂). The space and time dependences of the refractive index changes induced by the Ar⁺ laser beam are observed by means of the Mach–Zehnder interferometer using light from HeNe laser. The experimentally obtained results are in a good agreement with those following from numerical calculations using the manifold mirroring method. The agreement between calculated and experimental results indicates that the polarization charge at the photorefractive crystal/surrounding medium boundary significantly influences the photorefractive process in the crystal. The experimentally observed slow spontaneous decrease of the refractive index change in a sample placed into a slightly conducting medium (air) after switching off the beam also indicates that the polarization charge in the sample's surroundings affects the photorefraction.     

Decoherence effects in Bose–Einstein condensate interferometry I. General theory

The present paper outlines a basic theoretical treatment of decoherence and dephasing effects in interferometry based on single component Bose–Einstein condensates in double potential wells, where two condensate modes may be involved. Results for both two mode condensates and the simpler single mode condensate case are presented. The approach involves a hybrid phase space distribution functional method where the condensate modes are described via a truncated Wigner representation, whilst the basically unoccupied non-condensate modes are described via a positive P representation. The Hamiltonian for the system is described in terms of quantum field operators for the condensate and non-condensate modes. The functional Fokker–Planck equation for the double phase space distribution functional is derived. Equivalent Ito stochastic equations for the condensate and non-condensate fields that replace the field operators are obtained, and stochastic averages of products of these fields give the quantum correlation functions that can be used to interpret interferometry experiments. The stochastic field equations are the sum of a deterministic term obtained from the drift vector in the functional Fokker–Planck equation, and a noise field whose stochastic properties are determined from the diffusion matrix in the functional Fokker–Planck equation. The stochastic properties of the noise field terms are similar to those for Gaussian–Markov processes in that the stochastic averages of odd numbers of noise fields are zero and those for even numbers of noise field terms are the sums of products of stochastic averages associated with pairs of noise fields. However each pair is represented by an element of the diffusion matrix rather than products of the noise fields themselves, as in the case of Gaussian–Markov processes. The treatment starts from a generalised mean field theory for two condensate modes, where generalised coupled Gross–Pitaevskii equations are obtained for the modes and matrix mechanics equations are derived for the amplitudes describing possible fragmentations of the condensate between the two modes. These self-consistent sets of equations are derived via the Dirac–Frenkel variational principle. Numerical studies for interferometry experiments would involve using the solutions from the generalised mean field theory in calculations for the stochastic fields from the Ito stochastic field equations.     

Characteristic polynomial theory of two-stage phase shifting algorithms

Two-stage phase shifting algorithms make possible to directly recover the sum or the difference of the optical phase of two different fringe patterns. These algorithms can be built by combining the known phase shifting algorithms in a non-linear way. In this work, we associate a two-dimensional characteristic polynomial to each two-stage phase shifting algorithm. This enables us to qualitatively compare their behaviour against the main systematic error sources, by means of an analysis protocol like that used for phase shifting algorithms. We show that this tool allows to understand the propagation of properties from precursor phase shifting algorithms to new evaluation algorithms built from them. As an experimental application, a wavefront distortion evaluation in differential phase-shifting interferometry is presented.