Measurement of small displacement based on surface plasmon resonance heterodyne interferometry

This paper proposes an optical method for measuring small displacements using the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) heterodyne interferometry. A heterodyne light beam reflected by a mirror passes through a hemisphere glass and then enters into a surface plasmon resonance apparatus at the resonant angle. A small displacement of the mirror will introduce a phase-difference variation between p- and s-polarizations of the light emerging from the SPR apparatus. The phase-difference variation can be precisely measured with the heterodyne interferometric technique, and the associated displacement can be estimated. The feasibility of this method was verified by experiment, and the displacement measurement resolution of about 1.4 nm over a traveling range of 6 μm was achieved. Our method of measurement has the merits of both common-path interferometry and heterodyne interferometry.     

用激光外差干涉仪探测金属表面超声振动的实验设计

将激光外差法测量的科研成果转化为物理专业实验，设计了易于调节的激光外差干涉系统，实现了外差信号的接收，用压电超声装置代替激光超声装置，使实验系统小型化。     

Random depth access full-field heterodyne low-coherence interferometry utilizing acousto-optic modulation and a complementary metaloxide semiconductor camera

With analog scanning, time-domain low-coherence interferometry lacks precise depth information, and optical carrier generation demands a linear scanning speed. Full-field heterodyne low-coherence interferometry that uses a logarithmic complementary metal-oxide semiconductor camera, acousto-optic modulation, and digital depth stepping is reported, with which random regions of interest, lateral and axial, can be accessed. Furthermore, nanometer profilometry is possible through heterodyne phase retrieval of the interference signal. The approach demonstrates inexpensive yet high-precision functional machine vision offering true digital random access in three dimensions.     

Temporal heterodyne shearing speckle pattern interferometry

Shearing speckle pattern interferometry is a full-field speckle interferometric technique used to determine surface displacement derivatives. In this paper, a new measurement system of real-time heterodyne shearography interferometry is presented. This system combined with heterodyne measurement, shearography interferometry and time domain signal processing technology can dynamically detect the out-of-plane displacement gradient. The principles and system arrangement are described. Using the Jones matrix, the mathematical expression of light intensity distribution passing through this system is deduced. A preliminary experiment was performed to demonstrate the performance of this new device, and simulations were conducted using the finite element method. Comparison of results shows that quantitative measurement of the displacement derivative has been achieved.     

光外差超声无损探伤系统的实验设计和信号处理

对光外差超声无损探伤实验系统的结构、原理进行了说明.分析了系统参数设计中信号光与本振光的光程差、探测器的相对位置和聚焦透镜的焦距这三个要素对外差效率的重要影响,根据理论计算所设计的光外差超声无损探伤系统,外差效率可达0.965.该系统用于由脉冲激励超声工件的内部探伤,观察到距离1 555 mm处钢管微小裂缝的超声反射信号.对零差信号利用三角函数拟合和最小二乘法进行数学处理,可测得裂缝处相对探测点的距离,相对误差为0.19%,可以达到对金属管道远程无损探伤的要求.     

Dynamic two-frequency interferometry for small displacement measurements

Two-frequency interferometry for small displacement measurements is examined from a practical point of view. A laser beam that is modulated sinusoidally in intensity by an acousto-optic Bragg cell provides signal and reference optical waves to produce dynamic interference. The output signal of a photodetector receiving the interference is composed of optical homodyne and heterodyne components. The heterodyne component carries a vibrational displacement to be detected on its amplitude. A sinusoidal vibration amplitude is measured down to 0.5 nm.     

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 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.     

Instantaneous quadrature low-coherence interferometry with 3 x 3 fiber-optic couplers

We describe fiber-based quadrature low-coherence interferometers that exploit the inherent phase shifts of 3 x 3 and higher-order fiber-optic couplers. We present a framework based on conservation of energy to account for the interferometric shifts in 3 x 3 interferometers, and we demonstrate that the resulting interferometers provide the entire complex interferometric signal instantaneously in homodyne and heterodyne systems. In heterodyne detection we demonstrate the capability for extraction of the magnitude and sign of Doppler shifts from the complex data. In homodyne detection we show the detection of subwavelength sample motion. N x N (N > 2) low-coherence interferometer topologies will be useful in Doppler optical coherence tomography (OCT), optical coherence microscopy, Fourier-domain OCT, optical frequency domain reflectometry, and phase-referenced interferometry.     

基于光纤马赫-曾德尔干涉仪的强度测量研究

根据光外差检测原理，分析得到干涉测量适用于信号光强小于参考光强的探测，直接测量适用于信号光强大于参考光强的探测的结论。利用自制的全光纤马赫-曾德尔干涉仪系统，对位移信号进行了测量。实验结果表明：当位移信号较小时，干涉测量的灵敏度分别为62．068μW／mm和9．90mV／mm，而非干涉测量的灵敏度分别为4．30μW／mm和0．35mV／mm；当位移信号较大时，干涉测量的灵敏度分别为2．643mV／mm和0．055mV／mm，非干涉测量的灵敏度分别为12．326mV／mm和4．194mV／mm，测量结果与分析得到的结论一致。对于光纤干涉仪强度调制检测的应用具有参考价值。     

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.     

Controlling the phase of a light beam with a single molecule

We employ heterodyne interferometry to investigate the effect of a single organic molecule on the phase of a propagating laser beam. We report on the first phase-contrast images of individual molecules and demonstrate a single-molecule electro-optical phase switch by applying a voltage to the microelectrodes embedded in the sample. Our results may find applications in single-molecule holography, fast optical coherent signal processing, and single-emitter quantum operations.     

Optical heterodyne surface-plasmon resonance biosensor

A novel optical heterodyne surface-plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor with a Zeeman laser is proposed. Two surface plasma waves are excited by two correlated p-polarized waves in a SPR device of the Kretschmann configuration. Two reflected p waves are optically heterodyned such that the magnitude of the heterodyned signal is proportional to the multiplication of two attenuated reflected p waves. Then the detection sensitivity and the dynamic range based on this amplitude-sensitive method are enhanced. In the experiment, the kinetics between mouse immunoglobulin G (IgG) and rabbit antimouse IgG is obtained from sensograms of various concentrations of antimouse IgG. A detection sensitivity of 0.2 nM was achieved. In addition, a concentration of 5 ng/ml of protein G interacting with mouse IgG was measured successfully.     

Effect of laser source nonlinearity on optical heterodyne interferometry

In this paper, an optical heterodyne interferometric detection model with a frequency-ramped laser diode (LD) has been analyzed. The effect of the nonlinearity of the LD source on the optical heterodyne interferometry has been investigated in two different ways, which are the power-distortion Fourier series analysis and the harmonic distortion analysis. The general formulation between the tangent of the tested phase and the interference fringe have been presented with the analysis of the beat signal in the frequency domain by each methodology. The numerical results of these formulations have been presented.     

Heterodyne grating-generated scan correlation interferometry for reflectometry and signal-processing applications

A novel grating-generated scan correlation interferometry approach using a heterodyne technique for real-time signal processing is demonstrated. The characterization of reflections from a sample and detection of a femtosecond four-pulse train are presented as applications of the method.     

超外差干涉绝对距离测量研究综述

近几年来，基于多波长干涉理论的绝对距离测量技术取得了很大的进展。其中，超外差绝对距离干涉测量可以克服光学元件引起的模耦合误差，这是普通的外差干涉测量所不能避免的。超外差测量还能够实现合成波长相位的实时检测。本文简要介绍了多波长干涉测量（也叫小数重合法）的基本原理，论述和分析了超外差干涉测量的原理，指出了超外差测量的优点。最后，对超外差测量的方案进行了综述，并指出了它们在实际测量中的特点。     

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.     

目标粗糙对合成孔径激光雷达回波的退相干效应

本文研究了目标表面粗糙对回波信号探测的影响,通过蒙特卡罗方法建立一维和二维目标高斯随机粗糙面模型,并对目标回波信号的探测过程进行仿真,研究目标表面粗糙对中频信号的影响.还进行了粗糙面和光滑面两组光外差探测实验,验证目标粗糙对合成孔径激光雷达回波信号严重的“退相干”效应.同时,采用数字波前分析仪对探测器处本振光和信号光波前分别进行检测,检测结果与仿真一致,证明粗糙面回波相位畸变严重.文中研究结果对设计光源参数、接收系统参数以及评估系统作用距离奠定基础,为合成孔径激光雷达系统设计提供定量参考.     

Application of the Raman heterodyne technique for the detection of EPR and ENDOR

Raman heterodyne detection is a coherent optical-RF double resonance technique where the optical and RF fields induce coherence within a three level system and a resultant Raman field is measured using heterodyne detection. This approach has been used previously to detect NMR and more recently EPR. In this paper the parameters that affect the amplitude and signal to noise ratio of the Raman heterodyne signals are considered. The power levels in relation to the oscillator strength and dephasing times, the amplitude and spectrum of the laser frequency jitter in relation to the optical homogeneous linewidths and holeburning rates, and the sample properties such as absorption strength and optical quality, are all factors that affect the Raman signal. The presentation is focused on the Raman heterodyne detected EPR of the nitrogen-vacancy pair centre in diamond making comparisons with Raman heterodyne detected NMR signals obtained for rare earth ion systems. RF-RF double resonance studies, RF holeburning and ENDOR, which give information about the hyperfine levels are also reported for the nitrogen-vacancy centre. The resonance frequencies are in agreement with those predicted from the spin Hamiltonian. The factors affecting the lineshapes and relative intensities of the double resonance signals are discussed.     

Calibration of high-frequency hydrophone up to 40 MHz by heterodyne interferometer

A calibration technique for high-frequency hydrophone utilizing a heterodyne interferometer is presented in this article. The calibration system is mainly composed of optical and signal processing modules. In the displacement measurement, a pellicle is mounted at the surface of water to avoid acousto-optical interaction. The phase modulated carrier signal is digitized and transferred to the computer, then processed by digital phase demodulation. A phase unwrapping algorithm is employed to remove ambiguity of the arctangent function and has proven effective in large displacement measurements. Pellicle displacement and voltage output of the hydrophone in focused ultrasonic field are processed by DFT to determine the amplitudes of the fundamental and harmonic components. Experiments show that the heterodyne technique can provide hydrophone calibration up to 40 MHz, with a slightly smaller sensitivity compared with the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) calibration results for most frequency ranges. Since the heterodyne technique is independent on assumptions about the geometry of the ultrasonic field and the performance of the transducer, it can be easily extended to high frequency and high power ultrasound measurement applications.