Mutual spatiotemporal coherence of optical fields in an amplitude-splitting interferometer

We have considered cross correlations of wave perturbations formed by optical fields at different points of space at the exit of an interferometer with the splitting of the amplitude of the initial wave field. Expressions for the longitudinal spatiotemporal cross-correlation function of perturbations on the optical axis of a Michelson interferometer have been obtained and analyzed. We have determined spatial and temporal intervals in which the wave fields excite mutually coherent perturbations in the exit channel of the interferometer in the free space and in the image space of the lens system. We have found that, in the free space, mutually correlated perturbations arise simultaneously in identical longitudinal intervals, whereas, in the image space, they arise at different times in spatial and temporal intervals varying along the optical axis of the lens. The influence of cross correlations of the wave fields on the interferometer signal has been analyzed.

     

Linearization and minimization of cyclic error with heterodyne laser interferometry

We present a method for the linearization and minimization of interferometer cyclic error. We utilize a polynomial curve fitting and resampling algorithm to correct for nonlinear mirror displacement. In the frequency domain, this algorithm compresses cyclic error into a single-frequency component and enables the precise measurement of cyclic error in a noise-dominated environment. We have applied the technique to determine the cyclic error for a range of interferometer components. In addition, we have used these measurements to optimize interferometer configuration and performance such that we routinely achieve a cyclic error of ～50 pm for our custom Glan-Laser interferometer and ～100 pm for a commercial interferometer.     

用作超声接收器的共焦Fabry-Perot干涉仪

自行研制了一台用作超声接收器的共焦Ｆａｂｒｙ－Ｐｅｒｏｔ干涉仪。本文介绍了用该类干涉仪探测固体表面超声脉冲的原理，给出了干涉仪参数选择的依据及其具体结构形式，估价了共焦状态的精度要求，获得了干涉仪的干涉图样及锯齿波扫描透射曲线等实验结果。同时将该干涉仪成功地应用于探测激光脉冲在金属固体中激励的超声脉冲。     

A matter-wave interferometer based on the dc-Stark effect

We present a new separated beam atom interferometer in which the recombination of the atomic wave packet is due to the dc-Stark interaction of an induced atomic dipole with a cylindrically symmetric electric field of a charged wire. The fringe period shows a weak power-law dependence on the de Broglie wavelength and the polarizability of the particles. We present a semiclassical theoretical model for this interferometer which resembles the measured performance of the interferometer without free parameters. A discussion of possible applications of this interferometer for atoms and molecules is given. Received: 20 November 1998 / Published online: 8 September 1999     

Phase detection at the quantum limit with multiphoton Mach-Zehnder interferometry

We study a Mach-Zehnder interferometer fed by a coherent state in one input port and vacuum in the other. We explore a Bayesian phase estimation strategy to demonstrate that it is possible to achieve the standard quantum limit independently from the true value of the phase shift and specific assumptions on the noise of the interferometer. We have been able to implement the protocol by using parallel operation of two photon-number-resolving detectors and multiphoton coincidence logic electronics at the output ports of a weakly illuminated Mach-Zehnder interferometer. This protocol is unbiased, saturates the Cramer-Rao phase uncertainty bound, and, therefore, is an optimal phase estimation strategy.     

Adaptive stabilized interferometer with laser diode

We describe a diode laser interferometer with an electronic adaptive system of fringe pattern stabilization and vibrations suppression. The interferometer allows to obtain up to four high-quality images with relative phase shifts. Also an algorithm for fringe pattern processing has been proposed.     

Heterodyne interferometer scheme using a double pass in an acousto-optic modulator

We introduce a heterodyne interferometer scheme utilizing the double-pass arrangement of the deflected beams of an acousto-optic modulator. To prove our new idea, the interferometer has been applied for measuring small amplitude vibrations. The output intermediate frequency signal from the interferometer is processed by using an I/Q demodulator. In theory, it can provide the quantum noise limited sensitivity, whereas, in our present Letter, the sensitivity of the phase measurement is limited by the resolution of the 16?bit A/D converter used for processing the I/Q signals. Details of our interferometer scheme are discussed.     

克服光纤Mach-Zehnder干涉仪信号衰落的新方法及分析

为了克服光纤Mach-Zehnder干涉仪易受环境因素影响而引起偏置相位漂移从而导致输出信号衰落(波动)的问题,提出一种新的简单方法,即:将干涉仪输出信号分为直流和交流两个分量,通过直流分量的大小来计算交流信号的补偿因子,以达到克服交流信号衰落、稳定检测传感信号的目的在小信号测量情况下,该方法在很大范围内能有效抑制随机温度涨落等因素引起的信号衰落的问题文中对补偿方法的误差和局限性也做了分析和讨论.     

Surface-profile measurement by means of a polarization Sagnac interferometer with parallel optical feedback

We describe a novel feedback interferometer for real-time, unambiguous measurement of surface profiles that consists of a polarization Sagnac interferometer and an optically addressed phase-only spatial light modulator. In this system the output intensity from the Sagnac interferometer is optically fed back to the phase modulator placed in one arm of the interferometer, which produces a sawtooth fringe intensity profile (instead of the conventional cosinusoidal one) that is directly and unambiguously related to the surface profile. Preliminary experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of applying this system to surface-profile measurement.     

Non-Scanning Optical Coherence Tomography Using Off-Axis Interferometry with an Angular-Dispersion Imaging Scheme

We present a non-scanning approach for real-time optical coherence tomography (OCT). Our approach is based on an off-axis interferometer that laterally projects the time-of-flight or depth information of the sample onto an image sensor. To facilitate the use of an off-axis interferometer in OCT, an angular-dispersion imaging method has been developed. Theoretical analysis and experimental results are presented to demonstrate that this method is capable of demodulating the interferogram and thus permits a direct inspection of the depth-resolved image. Depth resolution and detection range of the present method are also studied.     

The Use of Carousel Interferometer in Fourier-Transform Ultraviolet Spectroscopy

The carousel interferometer is a new type of an interferometer, which has been invented at the University of Turku. It consists of a beamsplitter and five plane mirrors. Four of the mirrors are mounted on a carousel, which rotates back and forth. We have modified the interferometer for use in the Fourier-transform ultraviolet (FT-UV) spectroscopy. Test measurement with plasma radiation gives favourable results. The most important property, which makes the carousel interferometer suitable for UV measurements, is its good stability in modulation.Presented at 1996 International Workshop on Interferometry (IWI ‘96), August 27–29, Saitama, Japan.     

Entanglement preparation using symmetric multiports

We investigate the entanglement produced by a multi-path interferometer that is composed of two symmetric multiports, with phase shifts applied to the output of the first multiport. Particular attention is paid to the case when we have a single photon entering the interferometer. For this situation we derive a simple condition that characterizes the types of entanglement that one can generate. We then show how one can use the results from the single-photon case to determine what kinds of multi-photon entangled states one can prepare using the interferometer.     

Mach–Zehnder interferometer with squeezed and EPR entangled optical fields

We study a scheme for Mach-Zehnder(MZ) interferometer as a quantum linear device by injecting two-mode squeezed input states into two ports of interferometer.Two-mode squeezed states can be changed into two types of inputs for MZ interferometer:two squeezed states and Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen(EPR) entangled states.The interference patterns of the MZ interferometer vary periodically as the relative phase of the two arms of the interferometer is scanned,and are measured by the balanced homodyne detection system.Our experiments show that there are different interference patterns and periodicity of the output quantum states for two cases which depend on the relative phase of input optical fields.Since MZ interferometer can be used to realize some quantum operations,this work will have the important applications in quantum information and metrology.     

Measurement of in-plane motions and rotations using a simple electronic speckle pattern interferometer

We describe the construction and operation of a simple electronic speckle pattern interferometer which is sensitive to in-plane motions and rotations. The interferometer is extremely simple and easy to use. It uses a commercial digital still camera for image acquisition, and a personal computer for image storage and analysis. The interferometer was used to measure very small in-plane rotations of a rough surface, and the results were found to be in good agreement with the expected values. We propose to use this system as an instrument for the measurement of small-angle rotations.     

Impact of interferometer delay time on the performance of ODSB-SC RoF system with wavelength interleaving

In this paper, we investigate the impact of interferometer delay time in a 5 Gb/s optical double sideband-suppressed carrier (ODSB-SC) RoF system transmitting two wavelength interleaved radio frequency (RF) signals at 10 and 15 GHz over an optical fiber. Here, an optical Mach–Zehnder modulator is used for both optical carrier suppression and signal modulation. At the receiver, delay interferometer is used for the separation of RF frequency signals. We analyze the performance of the RoF system by varying the value of delay time of interferometer from 0.02 to 0.14 ns. The result shows that the RoF system performance is optimum for the time delay of 0.1 ns. Further, the optical spectrums, RF spectrums and eye diagrams of two interleaved RF signals have been compared.     

Knife-edge diffraction pattern as an interference phenomenon: An experimental reality

This paper demonstrates that a knife-edge diffraction pattern is, indeed, due to the interference of two superimposing waves: the geometrical wave and the boundary diffraction wave. Within the framework of boundary diffraction wave theory it is shown that this diffraction pattern can easily be broadened in such a manner that a single fringe covers the whole field of view. At this point the system converges to a schlieren diffraction interferometer and could be used for the study of phase objects using diffraction-limited optics. Experimental observations show that the method bears a similarity to that of any known two-beam interferometer, e.g. Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The experimental details have been presented and the results are compared with a two-beam holographic interferometer and a point diffraction interferometer.     

Interferometry with Ca atoms

Separated field excitation of a calcium atomic beam using four traveling laser fields represents two distinct atom interferometers utilizing the internal degrees of freedom of the atoms. Phase shifts between the atomic partial waves have been realized by phase shifts of the laser wave fields, by the ac-Stark shift, and by rotation of the interferometer (Sagnac effect). One particular interferometer can be selected by interaction of the atomic waves with extra laser fields. We furthermore report on the preparation of a laser cooled and deflected calcium atomic beam that can be utilized to largely increase the sensitivity of the interferometer.     

Interferometry with Phase Conjugate Mirrors and Measure of One-Way Velocity of Light

A Michelson interferometer with a phase-conjugate mirror (PCM) is described and discussed. The behavior of phase conjugate mirrors is discussed and the result of an experiment with a Michelson interferometer with a phase-conjugate mirror is described and commented. This interferometer has been proposed to be used to test the intrinsic non-locality of quantum mechanics. In this paper a new experimental setup to study the one-way velocity of light is proposed, which uses this new interesting device.     

Random partial diffuser as beam splitter in a new,common path interferometer

Use of a random partial diffuser is suggested as a beam spitter. An aberration-free reference beam coaxial with the test beam is obtained when the latter converges on the diffuser. Based on this principle, an interferometer has been realised for absolute measurements with a sensitivity equal to that of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. A large variety of optical components can be tested by this simple and inexpensive interferometer which could replace the already existing ones in optical workshops.     

Phase-referenced Doppler optical coherence tomography in scattering media

We present a fiber-based, low-coherence interferometer that significantly reduces phase noise by incorporating a second, narrowband, continuous-wave light source as a phase reference. By incorporating this interferometer into a Doppler OCT system, we demonstrate significant velocity noise reduction in reflective and scattering samples using processing techniques amenable to real-time implementation. We also demonstrate 90% suppression of velocity noise in a flow phantom.