Interferometer apparatus
AssigneeNIREOS S.r.l
InventorAntonio Perri
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An interferometer apparatus comprises an adjustable birefringent device configured to receive an input radiation and produce corresponding replicas having reciprocally orthogonal polarizations and delayed from each other by an adjustable time delay. The birefringent device also introduces an additional time delay between the replicas. The interferometer apparatus also comprises a compensation optical device optically coupled to the adjustable birefringent device and configured to have a respective structural thickness and respective ordinary and extraordinary refractive indexes to introduce a compensation time delay between the replicas having a sign opposite to a sign of the additional time delay.
Claims14
An interferometer apparatus comprising:
- an adjustable birefringent device configured to:
- receive an input radiation (INR) and produce corresponding replicas (e, o) having reciprocally orthogonal polarizations and delayed from each other by an adjustable time delay depending on a configuration assumed by the adjustable birefringent device;
- introduce an additional time delay between said replicas (e, o) dependent on angles of incidence (i, ω) of said input radiation on the adjustable birefringent device, wherein the angles of incidence (i, ω) is a function of a structural thickness and an ordinary and an extraordinary refractive index of the adjustable birefringent device;
- a compensation optical device that is optically coupled to said adjustable birefringent device and configured to have a respective structural thickness and respective ordinary and extraordinary refractive indexes so as to introduce at least a partial compensation time delay between said replicas having a sign opposite to a sign of the additional time delay so as to reduce the dependence on the angles of incidences (i, ω) in the interferometer apparatus;
- wherein the adjustable birefringent device comprises:
- a first birefringent component having a first thickness and a first optical axis;
- and
- a second birefringent component having a second thickness and a second optical axis perpendicular to the first optical axis;
- wherein the compensation optical device comprises:
- a third birefringent component having a third thickness and a third optical axis parallel to the second optical axis;
- and
- a fourth birefringent component having a fourth thickness and a fourth optical axis parallel to the first optical axis;
- and
- wherein:
- the first birefringent component, the second birefringent component, the third birefringent component and the fourth birefringent component are made by uniaxial birefringent crystal materials;
- each of said optical axes being configured so that a radiation propagating along the respective optical axis is governed by the corresponding ordinary refractive index;
- and
- at least one of the first, second, third and fourth birefringent components comprise a respective adjustable wedge pair comprising:
- a respective optical wedge,
- a respective moveable optical wedge,
- each of which are made by uniaxial birefringent crystal materials, and having parallel respective optical axes and equal respective apex angles.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.