Method and apparatus for precision measurement of phase shifts
AssigneeThe University of Queensland
InventorsAndrew White, Michael Harvey
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Abstract
An interferometer (1) includes a beam displacing assembly (5, 9). The beam displacing assembly is arranged to split an input beam (4) into first and second basis beams (6, 8), that have orthogonal polarisations being respective horizontal and vertical polarizations, and to combine said basis beams to produce an output beam (12). A polarimetric phase retrieval assembly (11) is responsive to the output beam and is arranged to determine a difference in phase shift imparted to one of the basis beams (6, 7) relative to the other by a test piece (7). Other embodiments of the invention are arranged to produce basis beams that have respectively orthogonal spatial modes.
Claims31
An interferometer including:
- a beam displacing assembly arranged to split an input beam into separated first and second basis beams and to combine said basis beams to produce at least one output beam;
- and
- a phase analyser responsive to the at least one output beam and arranged to determine a difference in phase shift imparted to one of said basis beams relative to the other by a test piece.
An interferometer including:
- means for splitting an input beam into a first pair of basis beams;
- means for recombining said first pair of basis beams to form at least one output beam;
- and
- means for processing the at least one output beam to determine a relative phase shift imparted between the said first pair of basis beams.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.