Achromatic nulling interferometer for stellar coronography

A common-path interferometer that is intended for observation of a faint off-axis light source against the background of an intense on-axis source is suggested. The on-axis source and its replicated image acquire an achromatic phase shift of 180° and interfere in antiphase. The achromatic phase shift is due to the geometrical phase in the configuration of a 3D interferometer. Interference spatially separates the dark and bright fields of the on-axis source by directing them to different sides of a beam splitter. At the same time, interference does not attenuate the field of the off-axis source, directing it to different sides of the beam splitter with equal intensities. Such a configuration of the common-path interferometer provides mechanical stability.     

Common-path achromatic interferometer-coronagraph: nulling of polychromatic light

A three-dimensional common-path interferometer is proposed, which can achromatically null out an on-axis source while it maintains the detectability of an off-axis source. A geometric phase in the three-dimensional interferometer introduces an achromatic pi-phase shift to the light from the on-axis source, such that destructive interference nulls out the axial light at one of the ports of the interferometer. Light from the off-axis source, which is exempt from the pi-phase shift, comes out from both ports with equal intensity. The common-path scheme makes the system highly immune to environmental disturbances.     

In-plane ESPI using an achromatic interferometer with low-coherence laser source

The use of an achromatic interferometer is explored as a means of doing in-plane ESPI measurements using a laser diode as the light source. This interferometer type, which uses a diffraction grating in place of the conventional beamsplitter, has two features that make it suitable for making ESPI measurements over extended areas, even when using a low-coherence laser diode source. First, the parallelogram optical geometry of the interferometer causes all rays passing through to have the same optical path lengths. Second, the interferometer is achromatic, whereby the piezo-actuated mirror that steps the illumination light does so by the same phase angle, independent of wavelength. This latter feature accommodates the spectral impurity of a laser diode source. A periodic variation of fringe visibility is observed in experiments, where narrow ranges of high visibility occur at regular spatial intervals. This behavior derives from the clustered discrete spectral character of laser diode light output. A method to “tune” the interferometer by slightly rotating the diffraction grating is described so as to achieve consistent high fringe visibility throughout the measured images.     

Nulling interferometry by use of geometric phase

Nulling interferometry is a method of detecting a faint source near a bright one, in which destructive interference is realized for the light from the bright source. A nulling interferometer that makes use of geometric phase (Pancharatnam phase) is proposed. An experimental setup is constructed to simulate a stellar interferometer with geometric-phase modulation. We attained extinction of 6 x 10(-5) in white light.     

Observation of Gouy phase anomaly with an interferometer

The intensity variation of bright and dark fringes in Young's double slit experiment shows that a light beam propagating through the focus of a lens experiences a phase shift (called the Gouy phase shift [Gouy CR. Acad Sci Paris 1890;110:1251]) with respect to its plane wave counterpart. The additional phase change of π introduced on focusing the light beam and then further propagating it in one arm of the interferometer changes a bright fringe into a dark fringe and vice-versa. We have, thus, made direct visualization of the Gouy phase shift by a simple experiment.     

Reflective point-diffraction microscopic interferometer with long-term stability

An on-axis phase-shifting reflective point-diffraction microscopic interferometer for quantitative phase microscopy based on Michelson architecture is proposed.A cube beamsplitter splits the object wave spectrum into two copies within two arms.Reference wave is rebuilt in one arm by low-pass filtering on the object wave frequency spectrum with a pinhole-mask mirror,and interferes with the object wave from the other arm.Polarization phase-shifting is performed and phase imaging on microscale specimens is implemented.The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme has the advantage of long-term stability due to its quasi common-path geometry with full use of laser energy.     

Atom Michelson interferometer on a chip using a Bose-Einstein condensate

An atom Michelson interferometer is implemented on an "atom chip." The chip uses lithographically patterned conductors and external magnetic fields to produce and guide a Bose-Einstein condensate. Splitting, reflecting, and recombining of condensate atoms are achieved by a standing-wave light field having a wave vector aligned along the atom waveguide. A differential phase shift between the two arms of the interferometer is introduced by either a magnetic-field gradient or with an initial condensate velocity. Interference contrast is still observable at 20% with an atom propagation time of 10 ms.     

On-axis computer-generated holograms for three-dimensional display

The feasibility of on-axis synthetic near-field amplitude holograms for three-dimensional display applications is demonstrated. An iterative optimization algorithm is used that generates an object-dependent diffuser that utilizes the phase and, to some extent, amplitude freedoms in the reconstruction plane. The discrimination between twin images and undiffracted terms is thus improved. The on-axis approach presents important advantages: a low coherence requirement for the illuminating source, a lower spacebandwidth and higher viewing angle than with the off-axis alternatives. Defocusing and parallax are experimentally attained with an extended white-light source and a lensless setup.     

Modeling of Multiple Scattering from an Ensemble of Spheres in a Laser Beam

This paper details the results of upgrading an effective numerical technique (derived for multiple-scattering simulations in photon correlation/cross-correlation with a plane-wave light source) for the modeling of multiple scattering in a laser beam. The off-axis shape coefficients of an arbitrary beam are computed starting from the set of known beam-shape coefficients for an on-axis location by using the addition theorem for the spherical vector wavefunctions of the first kind. The discussed technique is verified by comparison with a localized approximation for a focused Gaussian beam and with Barton's spheres-arbitrary beam interaction theory. An additional advantage of the proposed technique (self-testing of the computation accuracy by comparison of the off-axis beam-shape coefficients evaluated from two different on-axis origins) is demonstrated.     

通过迈克尔逊干涉仪特殊现象理解光的干涉

观察迈克尔逊干涉仪实验调节过程中出现的特殊现象;分析了白光干涉中央条纹的特征、由定域干涉到非定域干涉光源的空间相干性、迈克尔逊干涉仪中没有补偿板的干涉条纹形状,以及迈克尔逊干涉仪的分光板被前后倒置及补偿板不平行干涉条纹的变化。     

Spectral shift of a twisted electromagnetic Gaussian Schell-model beam focused by a thin lens

Spectral changes of a twisted electromagnetic Gaussian Schell-model (EGSM) beam focused by a thin lens are investigated by using a tensor method. It is shown that the spectral shift is mainly determined by the degree of polarization, twist phase and correlation coefficients of the initial beam. Generically the blue shift occurs at on-axis points, while the red shift can occur at off-axis points.     

结合线性回归的离轴数字全息去载波相位恢复算法

为实现仅用一幅离轴数字全息图便能直接恢复相位,提出一种利用空间载波相移技术(spatial carrier phase shift, SCPS)和线性回归相结合的离轴数字全息去载波相位恢复算法.首先,利用SCPS将一幅离轴数字全息图分为四幅含有载波相移的全息图,其中载波相移由沿行、列两个方向的正交载波所引入;然后,将四幅载波相移全息图作为输入,将所求物体相位和两个正交的载波作为未知量,结合最小二乘法和线性回归同时求出载波和相位信息.相较于已有的去载波技术,本算法无需背景全息图作为参考,便可准确地去除载波,实现高质量的相位重建.本文结合数值仿真和具体实验结果验证本算法的有效性和优越性.     

Influence of turbulence on the spectrum of diffracted chirped Gaussian pulsed beams

The influence of turbulence on the spectrum of diffracted chirped Gaussian pulsed beams is studied in detail. By using the quadratic approximation of the Rytov’s phase structure function and the finite expansion of the aperture function, the analytical expression for the spectrum of diffracted chirped Gaussian pulsed beams propagating through atmospheric turbulence is derived. It is shown that in free space there exist the on-axis and off-axis multi-spectral switch for diffracted chirped Gaussian pulsed beams. However, the turbulence results in a decrease of the spectral transition height, and the spectral switch even disappears when the turbulence is strong enough, which is very different from the behavior of undiffracted chirped Gaussian pulsed beams. Specially, with increasing the strength of turbulence, the higher-order spectral switch disappears firstly for on-axis case, while the lower-order spectral switch disappears firstly for off-axis case. In free space the on-axis spectrum is blue-shifted after a certain propagation distance, but the on-axis spectrum is red-shifted after a shorter propagation distance when the turbulence is strong enough. The spectral transition height increases with increasing the chirp parameter and decreasing the pulse duration, and the odd number order position without spectral shift is independent of the chirp parameter and pulse duration.     

Intensification and location of relativistic laser pulses against pointing fluctuations with micro-tube plasma lenses

We analyze, via an off-axis incident model and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, the influence of beam pointing fluctuations (BPFs) on the propagation properties of relativistic laser pulses in micro-tubes. It is observed that the in-tube laser intensity can be further amplified in the BPFs-induced off-axis incident case. But the intensification factor exhibits strong polarization-dependence. When the laser pulse is linearly polarized in the off-axis incident plane (p-polarization), more electrons may be dragged out from about a half of the tube inner surface in each across section than in the on-axis incident case, enhancing the effects of relativistic nonlinearity and channel focusing. The area for generating more electrons is reduced by one half in the s-polarization case, resulting in less efficient light intensification. The BPFs-induced off-axis incident also leads to pulse shortening. Moreover, light confinement in the tube core is evident and the laser pulse tends to be coaxial with the tube.     

Digital holographic shape measurement using Fizeau microscopy

We present a Fizeau interferometer using a microscopic objective as a tool for surface contouring without the need for a numerical lens for reconstruction. The interferometer is associated with a telescope system to feature the object with collimated light. The experiment is conducted on two objects possessing different step heights.The phase maps from the captured off-axis holograms are calculated numerically, which allows us to deduce the contours of the objects. The great advantages of the presented technique are that it can be done in real time and there is no need for numerical lenses for micro-objects reconstruction.     

Debye Series of Scattering by a Multi-Layered Cylinder in an Off-Axis 2D Gaussian Beam

The Debye series of light scattering by an infinite multi-layered cylinder in an off-axis 21） Gaussian beam is studied. A simplified but rigorous iterative formula for scattering coefficients is presented. The numerical calculations of scattering intensity by a cylinder in on-axis and off-axis beams are developed. It is indicated that the results of Debye series reach an agreement with those of generalized Lorenz-Mie theory and the off-axis distances vary the results to a great extent. The Debye series components of a two-layered cylinder are further discussed. The relations between them with rainbow phenomena are analysed.     

超短脉冲厄米-高斯光束在湍流大气中的光谱移动和光谱跃变

基于广义惠更斯-菲涅尔原理，推导出了超短脉冲厄米-高斯(H-G)光束在湍流大气中的光谱传输方程，研究了其光谱移动和光谱跃变特性，并给予了合理的物理解释.研究表明，超短脉冲H-G 光束通过湍流大气传输其光谱特性由大气折射率结构常数、厄米多项式阶数、脉冲宽度和观察点位置坐标等因素共同决定.轴上点光谱为蓝移，随着离轴距离的增大，光谱由蓝移变为红移，无光谱移动点的位置坐标与脉冲宽度无关.此外，当湍流增强到一定程度时离轴点还存在光谱跃变现象.自由空间与湍流大气中的光谱跃变行为存在很大的差异，本文对此进行了详细的分析. 关键词： 超短脉冲厄米-高斯(H-G)光束 湍流大气 光谱移动 光谱跃变     

Windowed Fourier transform applied in the wavelength domain to process the spectral interference signals

We report on processing the spectral interference signals by a new method based on a windowed Fourier transform applied in the wavelength domain. First, the numerical simulations are performed to demonstrate high precision of the phase retrieval from the spectral signal. Second, the feasibility of the method is confirmed in processing experimental data from a dispersive Michelson interferometer comprising a cube beamsplitter made of BK7 glass. From the retrieved spectral phase difference, the effective thickness of the beamsplitter is determined precisely.     

Digital phase-shifting interferometer with an electrically addressed liquid-crystal spatial light modulator

A digital phase-shifting interferometer with a liquid-crystal-display coupled, parallel aligned, nematic liquid-crystal spatial light modulator is developed. The optical phase shift in the Michelson-type polarization interferometer is achieved by a digital phase shift of a grating displayed on the spatial light modulator. Accurate experimental results of using the heterodyne system for pi/2 phase steps were demonstrated. A phase-shifting interferometer with no moving parts and no requirement for calibration of the value of the phase shift was achieved.     

基于Mach-Zehnder干涉仪的光纤气体传感器理论

提出了一种基于马赫-曾德尔(Mach-Zehnder)干涉仪的光纤气体传感器。由于Mach-Zehnder干涉仪具有抑制光源噪声和模式噪声的特点,在高精度测量中越来越受到重视。在干涉仪的传感臂上涂有对待测气体敏感的薄膜,由于气体与敏感层的作用,导致光纤纤芯折射率发生变化,两臂的相位差发生变化,并引起干涉仪输出光强的变化和干涉条纹的平移,平移量与气体浓度对应。根据杨氏双缝干涉的理论,利用MATLAB对该研究进行计算机仿真,绘制出单色光的杨氏干涉图样和光强分布曲线,及气室中通入一定浓度的待测气体使干涉图样产生平移。