基于复合干涉的光纤低相干干涉传感系统研究

研究一种能够进行远程及绝对测量的光纤低相干干涉传感系统。该系统包含两个光纤干涉仪,其中一个光纤干涉仪置于被测场中感应被测量的变化,可实现远程测量;另一个光纤干涉仪解调被测量的值。运用波分复用技术,使用于解调的光纤干涉仪同时工作于低相干干涉和高相干干涉状态。用低相干干涉信号决定被测量的幅值,对被测量实现绝对测量,并使测量量程不受波长限制;同时,用高相干干涉信号对被测量进行高精度的测量。系统的测量量程为6mm,测量分辨率小于1nm,位移实验结果的线性相关系数R为0.99。     

Distributed measurement of birefringence dispersion in polarization-maintaining fibers

A new method to measure the birefringence dispersion in high-birefringence polarization-maintaining fibers is presented using white-light interferometry. By analyzing broadening of low-coherence interferograms obtained in a scanning Michelson interferometer, the birefringence dispersion and its variation along different fiber sections are acquired with high sensitivity and accuracy. Birefringence dispersions of two PANDA fibers at their operation wavelength are measured to be 0.011 ps/(km nm) and 0.018 ps/(km nm), respectively. Distributed measurement capability of the method is also verified experimentally.     

High-performance fiber-optic temperature sensor using low-coherence interferometry

A temperature-sensor system based on low-coherence interferometry with a fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer as a phase modulator was implemented. A measurement range of 20 to 800 degrees C with a resolution of 0.025 degrees C (corresponding to 0.0004 fringe) was achieved with a 1-mm-long fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer as the sensing element.     

Fourier-domain low-coherence interferometry for differential mode delay analysis of an optical fiber

We propose a novel mode analysis and differential mode delay measurement method for an optical fiber using Fourier-domain low-coherence interferometry. A spectral interferometer based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer setup was used with a broadband source and an optical spectrum analyzer to detect relative temporal delays between the guided modes of a few-mode optical fiber by analyzing spectral interference signals. We have shown that experimental results of the proposed method agree well with those results obtained by using a conventional time-domain measurement method. We have demonstrated that this new mode analysis technique has high sensitivity (<60 dB) and very good resolution (<1 ps/m).     

Using dynamic low-coherence interferometry to image Brownian motion within highly scattering media

Dynamic low-coherence interferometry was used to measure Brownian motion of submicrometer particles within highly scattering media. Strong rejection of multiply scattered light was obtained by combination of a coherence gate with a confocal microscope, thus allowing particle characterization methods generally reserved for optically dilute materials to be applied to optically concentrated suspensions. The Brownian diffusion coefficient of highly scattering media was determined with an accuracy better than 5%. Furthermore, we show that spatial variations in the Brownian diffusion coefficient can be imaged with an axial resolution determined by the coherence length of the light source (~30 mum) . The experiments also show broadening of the power spectrum as a function of depth into the sample, most likely as a result of detecting multiply scattered light.     

Spectral-domain differential interference contrast microscopy

We present a fiber-optic low-coherence imaging technique, termed spectral-domain differential interference contrast microscopy (SD-DIC), for quantitative DIC imaging of both reflective surfaces and transparent biological specimens. SD-DIC combines the common-path nature of a Nomarski DIC interferometer with the high sensitivity of spectral-domain low-coherence interferometry to obtain high-resolution, quantitative measurements of optical pathlength gradients from a single point on the sample. Full-field imaging can be achieved by scanning the sample. A reflected-light SD-DIC system was demonstrated using a USAF resolution target as the phase object. Live cardiomyocytes were also imaged, achieving a resolution of 36 pm for pathlength gradient measurements. The dynamics of cardiomyocyte contraction were recorded with high sensitivity at selected sites on the cells.     

Harmonic interferometry in the visible and UV, based on second- and third-harmonic generation of a 25 ps mode-locked Nd:YAG laser

A second-harmonic interferometer using 25 ps pluses is presented, achieving a sensitivity of 9x10(-10) m in measuring line-integrated dispersion between 1064 and 532 nm. Using the same laser source, a third-harmonic interferometer is demonstrated for the first time to our knowledge, achieving a sensitivity of 7x10(-9) m in measuring line-integrated dispersion between 1064 and 355 nm. The prospect for the development and use of high-harmonic interferometry is discussed.     

Remote and high precision step height measurement with an optical fiber multiplexing interferometric system

An optical fiber multiplexing low coherence and high coherence interferometric system, which includes a Fizeau interferometer as the sensing element and a Michelson interferometer as the demodulating element, is designed for remote and high precision step height measurement. The Fizeau interferometer is placed in the remote field for sensing the measurand, while the Michelson interferometer which works in both modes of low coherence interferometry and high coherence interferometry is employed for demodulating the measurand. The range of the step height is determined by the low coherence interferometry and the value of it is measured precisely by the high coherence interferometry. High precision has been obtained by searching precisely the peak of the low coherence interferogram symmetrically from two sides of the low coherence interferogram and stabilizing the Michelson interferometer with a feedback loop. The maximum step height that could be measured is 6 mm while the measurement resolution is less than 1 nm. The standard deviation of 10 times measurement results of a step height of 1 mm configurated with two gauge blocks is 0.5 nm.     

Interrogation of fiber gratings by use of low-coherence spectral interferometry of noiselike pulses

We demonstrate an innovative method for a real-time interrogation of fiber Bragg gratings based on low-coherence spectral interferometry of noiselike pulses. By analyzing the spectral interference at the output of a Michelson interferometer we obtained the impulse response of the grating with a time resolution of ~350 fs . Using the Gabor transformation, we could directly detect nonuniform regions inside the grating and could measure the spatial dependence of the resonance wavelength along the grating.     

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.     

Path-length distribution and path-length-resolved Doppler measurements of multiply scattered photons by use of low-coherence interferometry

We report first results of measurements by low-coherence Doppler interferometry of the path-length distribution of photons undergoing multiple scattering in a highly turbid medium. We use a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with multimode graded-index fibers and a superluminescent diode as the light source. The path-length distribution is obtained by recording of the heterodyne fluctuations that arise from the Brownian motion of particles in an Intralipid suspension as a function of the optical path length. The experimental path-length distribution is in good agreement with predictions of Monte Carlo simulations. In the heterodyne spectrum, an increase of the mean Doppler frequency with path length is observed.     

Noncontact measurement of nerve displacement during action potential with a dual-beam low-coherence interferometer

We have used a novel phase-referenced heterodyne dual-beam low-coherence interferometer to perform what we believe are the first noncontact measurements of surface motion in a nerve bundle during the action potential. Nerve displacements of approximately 5-nm amplitude and approximately 10-ms duration are measured without signal averaging. This interferometer may find general application in measurement of small motion in cells and other weakly scattering samples.     

Two-wavelength optical coherence tomography

We present the results of studies of the basic principles and describe the design of a low-coherence two-wavelength interferometer based on polarization-maintaining fiber. The interferometer was developed for optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging of the internal structure of living biological tissue simultaneously at two wavelengths, 830 and 1300 nm. Images of several sites of living biological tissue are presented and analyzed.     

Estimating ellipticity of a fiber core using two types of interferometry

In the present work two types of low-coherence interferometry are used to estimate the ellipticity of the core of an optical fiber in the cross section. Using the time-domain low-coherence interferometry the group-index difference between the degenerate high-order modes is measured. Because of the usage of a short fiber sample the group-index difference between the degenerate fundamental modes is too small to measure. Secondly, a frequency-domain low-coherence interferometry is presented in details. Since it is an all-fiber setup, longer fiber is allowed to be used. The high-order modes are filtered. The group-index difference between the degenerate fundamental modes is obtained. For each of the methods the experimental results are used to estimate the ellipticity of the fiber core in numerical simulations.     

Phase-referenced interferometer with subwavelength and subhertz sensitivity applied to the study of cell membrane dynamics

We report a highly sensitive means of measuring cellular dynamics with a novel interferometer that can measure motional phase changes. The system is based on a modified Michelson interferometer with a composite laser beam of 1550-nm low-coherence light and 775-nm CW light. The sample is prepared on a coverslip that is highly reflective at 775 nm. By referencing the heterodyne phase of the 1550-nm light reflected from the sample to that of the 775-nm light reflected from the coverslip, small motions in the sample are detected, and motional artifacts from vibrations in the interferometer are completely eliminated. We demonstrate that the system is sensitive to motions as small as 3.6 nm and velocities as small as 1 nm/s. Using the instrument, we study transient volume changes of a few (approximately three) cells in a monolayer immersed in weakly hypotonic and hypertonic solutions.     

Measurement of angular distributions by use of low-coherence interferometry for light-scattering spectroscopy

We present a novel interferometer for measuring angular distributions of backscattered light. The new system exploits a low-coherence source in a modified Michelson interferometer to provide depth resolution, as in optical coherence tomography, but includes an imaging system that permits the angle of the reference field to be varied in the detector plane by simple translation of an optical element. We employ this system to examine the angular distribution of light scattered by polystyrene microspheres. The measured data indicate that size information can be recovered from angular-scattering distributions and that the coherence length of the source influences the applicability of Mie theory.     

Measurement of optical constants for dense media by low-coherence dynamic light scattering

We perform the optical constants measurements for different absorption dense media by low-coherence dynamic light scattering (DLS) technique. The estimated particle size is used to calculate the scattering coefficient of particles suspended in dense media. The path-length resolved intensity distributions of light backscattered from the absorbing dense media are investigated experimentally by virtue of path-length resolved performance in low-coherence DLS measurements. The absorption coefficient can be obtained by applying the measured path-length resolved intensity distributions to the modified Lambert-Beer law. As a result, we proposed a new low-coherence DLS technique in simultaneous measurement of the scattering and absorption coefficients of absorbing dense media.     

Zone-plate interferometry at 13 nm wavelength

We report on interferometry using a two-zone-plate common-path interferometer operating at a wavelength of 13 nm. The interferometer was set up with a laser-driven high-harmonic source emitting radiation with the high degree of spatial and temporal coherence necessary for interferometry. The interferometer is suited for investigations of the coherence properties of the light source employed, as well as for simultaneous measurements of the real and imaginary part of the complex index of refraction in the 100 eV regime. This is demonstrated in a proof of principle experiment with a piece of Zr-foil as the phase-shifting and absorbing sample. PACS 41.50.+h; 42.65.Ky; 42.87.Bg; 07.60.Ly     

应用低相干动态光散射法测量悬浮液中的颗粒粒径分布

利用低相干动态光散射法测量不同浓度悬浮液中的颗粒粒径分布。由低相干光源和迈克尔逊干涉仪,结合传统的动态光散射技术组成低相干动态光散射装置,通过检测单次背散射光的能谱分布,利用CONTIN算法得到不同浓度悬浮液中颗粒的粒径分布。结果表明,对于1%～10%体积浓度范围内的单分散悬浮液羊品测量得到的颗粒粒径精确度在4%以内。