A phase sensitive optical rotation measurement in a scattered chiral medium using a Zeeman laser

A novel circular polarized optical heterodyne interferometer using a Zeeman laser to measure optical rotation both in nonscattered and scattered chiral medium is proposed. A pair of correlated orthogonal circular polarized light waves of different temporal frequency propagating in the chiral medium at different speed is studied. This results in phase retardation between circular polarized light waves of which the phase difference is proportional to the optical rotation angle of a linear polarized light in a chiral medium. In the mean time, two orthogonal circular polarized light waves can be treated as a circular polarized photon pair that is able to reduce the scattering effect in a scattered chiral medium. Then the optical rotation angle can be measured in the scattering medium. In addition, a common-path configuration with respect to circular polarized light waves immune the background noise. This further improves the sensitivity on optical rotation measurement based on phase difference detection.     

Applying the optical activity of cholesteric liquid crystal for measuring small wavelength differences

This work proposes a simple measurement technique based on the optical activity of cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) and circular common-path heterodyne interferometry for measuring small wavelength differences. A circularly polarized heterodyne light passes through a CLC cell and an analyzer, generating an interference signal. When the CLC cell is properly chosen with a circular regime, it has strong optical activity. Accordingly, the phase difference between the left and right circular light of the interference signal depends strongly on the wavelength. As the wavelength changes, variations of the phase difference can be accurately detected by heterodyne interferometry. Substituting the variation of phase difference into specially derived equations, the wavelength variations can be estimated accurately. The feasibility of this method, which is applicable when the wavelength is larger than the product of the pitch and the refractive index of the CLC cell, was demonstrated; it provides the advantages of simple installation, ease of operation, and high accuracy.     

A phase quadrature interferometer for measuring the small optical rotation angle of a chiral medium

The passage of a linearly polarized beam through a chiral material and a phase retarder will induce a phase difference between the s and p polarizations of the beam. In this study, a phase quadrature interferometer is designed to measure the phase difference variation proportional to the optical rotation. The proportionality constant (or measurement sensitivity) can be greatly enhanced by setting the retardation of the phase retarder close to 0° or 180°. The experimental results demonstrate that with our system we can obtain a measurement resolution for the rotational angle of better than 3.5° × 10⁻⁴. This method has several advantages such as a simple optical setup, easier operation in real time, and low cost. In addition, due to the common-path arrangement, surrounding noise can be eliminated.     

Measurement of small differences in refractive indices of solutions with interferometric optical method

Based on the principles of both surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and heterodyne interferometry, an optical method for measuring small differences in refractive indices of solutions was proposed. On a specially designed probe, two light beams are incident on both reference and test solutions. The phase differences between the p- and s-polarizations of each reflected light under SPR condition are measured simultaneously with heterodyne interferometric technique. The phase values are substituted into special equations derived from Fresnel's equations. Finally, the difference between the refractive indices of these two solutions can be estimated. The feasibility of this method was demonstrated and the measurement sensitivity of refractive index can reach a value of at least 8.57×10⁻⁷. This method should bear the merits of a simple structure, easy operation, high sensitivity and rapid measurement.     

Measuring physical parameters with surface plasmon resonance heterodyne interferometry

If the incident angle of a light beam on the boundary surface between the thin metal film of a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) apparatus and a test medium is equal to or very near the resonant angle, then the phase difference between the p- and s-polarizations of the reflected light is related to the associated physical parameter. The phase difference can be measured accurately with heterodyne interferometry. If the relationship between the phase difference and the associated physical parameter is specified, then the associated physical parameter can be estimated from the phase difference data. This method has the benefits of both common-path interferometry and heterodyne interferometry, such as simple structure, high stability, high resolution, easy operation, and rapid real-time measurement.     

Applying the phase difference property of polarization angle for measuring the concentration of solutions

This paper proposes a simple method for measuring the concentration of solutions based on the phase difference of internal reflection polarization angle and circularly polarized heterodyne interferometry. For a circularly polarized heterodyne light beam incident on the boundary surface between a hemispherical prism and a test solution, the reflected light passes through a properly oriented analyzer for interference. The phase difference between s- and p-polarized light is sensitive to the solution concentration when the incident angle equals the internal reflection polarization angle. Based on these effects, the resulting phase difference makes it possible to analyze the concentration of solution through heterodyne interferometry. The experiments in this study confirm the feasibility of this method, which provides the advantages of simple installation, ease of operation, and high accuracy.     

Measurement of small angle based on a (1 0 0) silicon wafer and heterodyne interferometer

In this paper, a new optical material application and a heterodyne interferometer are proposed for measuring small angles. In the proposed interferometer, the optical material is a (1 0 0) silicon wafer applied to compose a new architecture of small angle sensor. The small angle measurement used the phase difference which is dependent on the incident angle at the silicon wafer surface to deduce the angular variation. The proposed architecture is simple and uses the common path method to compare test and reference signals; thus, small angles can be easily and accurately measured by estimating the phase difference. The experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of this method. The angular resolution and sensitivity levels superior to 7 × 10^?5° (1.3 × 10^?6 rad) and 150 (deg/deg), respectively, were attainable in a dynamic range of 0.45°.     

Doppler振镜正弦调制多光束激光外差二次谐波测量角度的方法

提出了一种多光束激光外差测微小角度的新方法. 基于激光外差技术和Doppler效应, 通过做简谐振动的Doppler振镜对不同时刻入射光的正弦调制, 把待测角度信息加载到外差信号的频率差中, 经信号解调后可以得到待测角度参数值, 经加权平均处理可以提高待测角度的测量精度. 利用这种新方法, 通过Matlab仿真了平面标准镜不同入射角的模拟结果, 表明该仿真结果的最大相对误差小于0.789677%. 关键词： 角度测量 多光束激光外差 激光Doppler技术 Fourier分析     

空间外差光谱仪视场展宽棱镜设计理论与方法

空间外差光谱仪采用特定楔角的棱镜实现视场拓展是提高仪器通量和辐射灵敏度的重要手段之一。借鉴传统傅里叶变换光谱仪视场展宽基础理论,结合空间外差光谱仪的技术特点,研究了基于数值归纳方法进行视场展宽棱镜设计的理论依据和实现途径。分析了不同Littrow角和目标波数下视场展宽棱镜顶角的最优取值及最大视场展宽容限。结果表明数值归纳方法全面衡量各级次视场对相位差的影响给出视场展宽棱镜顶角的最优取值,与传统理论推导方法相比,沿色散主截面方向视场容限提高了10%～30%,且数值归纳方法设计空间外差视场展宽棱镜简单、直观,在设计过程中可同时分析仪器参数对视场展宽容限的影响。     

Absolute distance measurement by using modified dual-wavelength heterodyne Michelson interferometer

This study proposes a modified dual-wavelength heterodyne Michelson interferometer for measuring the absolute distance that can avoid the influence of wavelength drifts. This modified interferometer consists of two conventional Michelson interferometers. A standard plate is introduced in one arm of one Michelson interferometer. The phase differences of p- and s- polarization test lights in the two interferometers can be measured accurately by dual-wavelength heterodyne interferometry. Hence, the absolute distance can be determined by substituting the phase differences into special derived equations. Meanwhile, the test lights suffer from the same wavelength drift effect. Therefore, the negative effect caused by the drift can be offset, and the measurement stability can be significantly increased. The feasibility of this method was demonstrated with a measurement resolution of about 1.36 μm. Additionally, this method has a simple structure, easy operation and rapid measurement.     

基于合成波长法的飞秒激光外差干涉测距方法

本文提出了一种基于合成波长法的飞秒激光外差干涉测距方法.系统采用两个带通滤波器产生两个具有一定波长差的单波长,用于产生合成波长.本方法结构简单,能量利用率高.与双频激光干涉仪在40 mm范围内的比对结果表明,该方法比对残差的标准差为91 nm.     

A novel method to measure the cell gap and pretilt angle of a reflective liquid crystal display

A powerful method for the phase retardation measurement of a reflective liquid crystal cell is presented. The proposed method is based on the heterodyne interferometer theory for probing cell parameters. Due to common-path optical arrangement, a fast measurement with high accuracy and sensitivity was possible. Both theoretical analysis and experimental procedures are presented. The experimental results agree well with that obtained theoretically.     

The new circular heterodyne interferometer with electro-optic modulation for measurement of the optical linear birefringence

We present a new circular heterodyne interferometer with electro-optic modulation for measurement of the optical linear birefringence. It enables the measurement of not only the phase retardation but also the principal angle. The measurement procedure is carried out in two steps. In the first step of measurements, we use the electro-optic modulated circular heterodyne interferometer and the phase-lock technique to precisely measure the principal axis angle. After rotating the analyzer in the setup, the phase retardation is determined also by the phase-lock technique. The compact configuration requires only a photodetector and two simple phase-lock extractions to determine the principal axis angle and the phase retardation. The validity of the proposed design is demonstrated by measurement of the principal axis angle and phase retardation of a quarter-wave plate sample. The root-mean-square resolutions for the principal axis angle and phase retardation are found to be 0.0396° and 0.0796°, respectively, with corresponding dynamic ranges of 0–180° and 0–180°.     

A new electro-optic modulated circular heterodyne interferometer for measuring the rotation angle in a chiral medium

A new optical polarimeter capable of measuring the rotation angle in a chiral medium is developed successfully, and is an extension of previously developed simultaneous or sequential measurement system of the principal axis and retardance in linearly birefringent materials. The polarimeter for measuring the rotation angle is based on an electro-optic modulated circular heterodyne interferometer and using phase-lock technique to measure the rotation angle directly and precisely. The validity of the proposed design is demonstrated by the measurement of rotation angle in a half-wave plate and the glucose sample. The average relative error in rotation angle level of 0.00284° has been obtained for a half-wave plate. A correlation coefficient value of 0.9999975 is determined; it indicates a highly linear relationship between the reference values and the measured rotation angles. Moreover, a standard deviation in rotation angle level of 0.005275° has been obtained for glucose solutions with concentrations ranging from 0 to 1.2 g/dl in 0.2 g/dl increments, with a correlation coefficient value of 0.99915 between the reference and the measured values. This setup is compact in configuration, and is easy in calibration. The linearity and resolution characteristics of this system are comparable to those previous studies adopting phase-sensitive techniques.     

Alternative method of wavelength drift free dual-wavelength heterodyne interferometry for the absolute distance measurement

Based on the technique of dual-wavelength and principle of heterodyne interferometry, a modified method for measuring the absolute distance is proposed. Because two test lights suffer from the same influence of wavelength drift in the measurement setup, the minus effect coming from the wavelength drift can be offset. Therefore, the measurement accuracy can be significantly increased. The feasibility of this method was demonstrated with a measurement resolution of about 1.50 μm. This method provides the advantages of a simple optical setup, easy operation and rapid measurement.     

Measurements of phase retardation and principal axis angle using an electro-optic modulated Mach–Zehnder interferometer

This paper presents an electro-optic modulated circular heterodyne modified Mach–Zehnder interferometer and a convenient two-phase signal-processing algorithm for the measurement of variations in the magnitude of phase retardation and the angle of principal axis in optical materials. The developed method solves the problems of normalized intensity jump and limited phase retardation measurement range associated with the circular heterodyne interferometer proposed previously. The present method uses a saw-tooth wave signal to drive an electro-optic (EO) modulator, and employs a lock-in amplifier to demodulate the principal axis angle and the phase retardation. Specifically, this paper considers two main sources of measurement errors, namely the misorientation of the EO modulator and the reflection phase retardation of the beam splitter. Furthermore, the study develops calibration procedures and identifies a means to minimize measurement errors induced by the reflection phase retardation of the beam splitter.     

Method of making mosaic gratings by using a two-color heterodyne interferometer containing a reference grating

We propose and demonstrate a two-color heterodyne interferometric method for making a perfect mosaic of two planar gratings that can substitute for a single and larger grating without introducing wavefront aberration at any wavelength. The lateral and longitudinal phase errors are separated and eliminated by use of two wavelengths in the interferometry. The accuracy of the phase difference measurement is improved by this heterodyne scheme. The method ensures that the lateral gap between the two subaperture gratings is an integer multiple of the grating period. For a pair of 0.72 microm period gratings we experimentally achieved a lateral alignment error of less than 1% of the grating period.     

光学差拍方法测量波片的相位延迟

本文提出了用双频激光器测量波片的相位延迟方法:光学差拍方法,其测量精度为激光波长的1/6000,优于其他的波片测量方法的测量精度。     

An instrument for measuring low optical rotation angle

This paper develops a linear heterodyne interferometer based on phase-locked extraction for measuring low optical rotation angle. The validity of the proposed design is demonstrated by measuring a half-wave plate. The average relative error in the measured rotation angle of the half-wave plate is determined as just 0.74%. When applied to the measurement of glucose solutions with concentrations ranging from 0 to 1.2 g/dl, the average relative error in the measured rotation angle of glucose solutions is determined to be 1.46%. The correlation coefficient between the measured rotation angle and the glucose concentration is determined to be 0.999991, while the standard deviation is just 0.00051°. The current system is capable of measuring glucose concentration as low as 0.01 g/dl with an error of 6.67% in the rotation angle measurement. Overall, the experimental results demonstrate the ability of the proposed system to obtain highly accurate measurement of the optical rotation angle.     

多普勒振镜正弦调制多光束激光外差二次谐波测量微冲量

提出了一种正弦调制多光束激光外差二次谐波测量微冲量的新方法,将激光与工质靶作用产生的微冲量转化为扭摆的转动角度测量,基于激光外差技术和多普勒效应,把待测转角信息加载到外差信号的频率差中,经信号解调后可以得到待测转角值,通过多次测量取平均值的方法可以提高待测转角的测量精度,从而提高微冲量的测量精度。利用这种新方法,以PVC+2%C为工质靶,利用MATLAB仿真测量了激光与工质靶作用产生的微冲量,结果表明:该测量的最大相对误差小于0.8%。