Optical heterodyne detection method and apparatus utilizing a scattered reference beam
AssigneeSharp Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsAtsushi Shimonaka, Tatsuya Morioka, Mototaka Taneya, Hidenori Kawanishi, Haruhisa Takiguchi
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Abstract
An optical heterodyne detection method of detecting a beat signal by heterodyne detection using a superimposition of two or more beams of light including a signal beam and a reference beam, includes the steps of: generating a scattered reference beam from the reference beam: and detecting the beat signal obtained from the scattered reference beam and the signal beam, by superimposing the scattered reference beam and the signal beam.
Claims25
An optical heterodyne detection method for detecting a beat signal by optical heterodyne detection using a superimposition of two or more waves of beams including a wave of a signal beam and a wave of a reference beam, the method comprising the steps of:
- generating a collection of plane waves having a certain solid angle by scattering the reference beam in two dimensions;
- and
- detecting the beat signal obtained from one of the plane waves and the wave of the signal beam by superimposing one of the plane waves and the wave of the signal beam.
An optical heterodyne detecting apparatus for detecting a beat signal by an optical heterodyne detection using a superimposition of two or more waves of beams including a wave of a signal beam and a wave of a reference beam, the apparatus comprising:
- a first optical means for generating a collection of plane waves having a certain solid angle by scattering the reference beam in two dimensions;
- a second optical means for mixing the scattered reference beam and the signal beam by superimposing one of the plane waves and the wave of the signal beam;
- and
- a third optical means for receiving the mixed beams including the superimposed waves and detecting the beat signal obtained from one of the plane waves and the wave of the signal beam.
An optical heterodyne detection method for detecting a beat signal by optical heterodyne detection using a superimposition of two or more beams including a signal beam and a reference beam, the method comprising the steps of:
- continuously varying a direction of the signal beam;
- generating a scattered reference beam from the reference beam;
- and
- detecting the beat signal obtained from the scattered reference beam and the signal beam whose direction is varied by superimposing the scattered reference beam and the signal beam.
An optical heterodyne method for detecting a beat signal by optical heterodyne detection using a superimposition of two or more beams including a signal beam and a reference beam, the method comprising the steps of:
- generating a scattered reference beam from the reference beam, a direction of the scattered reference beam being continuously varied;
- and
- detecting the beat signal obtained from the scattered reference beam and the signal beam by superimposing the scattered reference beam and the signal beam.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.