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Interference
inadequacy of a single intensity measurement to determine the
optical field
Michelson interferometer
measuring
distance
index of refraction
Mach-Zehnder interferometer
measuring
wavefront
MIT 2.71/2.710
03/30/09 wk8-a- 1
z = 2.875
phasor due
to propagation
(path delay)
In general,
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03/30/09 wk8-a- 2
real representation
phasor representation
vertical screen
(plane of observation)
z=fixed
Phasor representation:
(not to scale)
vertical screen
(plane of observation)
x
z=z0
path delay increases quadratically with x
z=fixed
Phasor representation:
(not to scale)
Michelson interferometer
reference
mirror
signal
mirror
signal
arm
light
source
wave from
signal arm
wave from
reference arm
beam
splitter
unknown
object
or path
lens
photo-detector
signal arm
wave from
reference arm
=
t
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03/30/09 wk8-a- 6
destructive interference
known
path
moving
signal
mirror
signal
arm
light
source
beam
splitter
unknown
path
lens
photo-detector
The relative length of the unknown signal path compared to
the reference path can be established (mod 2).
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03/30/09 wk8-a- 7
known
path
reference
arm
reference
mirror
signal
mirror
signal
arm
light
source
beam
splitter
lens
photo-detector
known
path
object of unknown
thickness L or
index of refraction n
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03/30/09 wk8-a- 8
Highest contrast /
fringe visibility is obtained
by interfering beams of
equal amplitudes
Intensity
Intensity
m=1
0<m<1
2m0
Intensity
As<<Ar
no interference
m0
ArAs
imperfect contrast
MIT 2.71/2.710
03/30/09 wk8-a- 9
Ar=As
perfect contrast
Mach-Zehnder interferometer
x
reference
mirror
beam
combiner
reference
arm
signal
arm
light
source
beam
splitter
unknown
object
rotation
signal
mirror
Interference pattern
Id(x)
x
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03/30/09 wk8-a-10
al
n
g
i
s
ave
w
e
plan
reference
plane wave
observation plane
(digital camera)
Id(x)
MIT 2.71/2.710
03/30/09 wk8-a- 11
Today
Huygens principle
Youngs interferometer
Generalizing Youngs interferometer:
Huygens principle and thin transparencies
Fresnel diffraction integral
Diffraction
Fresnel regime
Next week
Fraunhofer regime
Spatial frequencies and Fourier transforms
Fraunhofer patterns of typical apertures
MIT 2.71/2.710
04/01/09 wk8-b- 1
Huygens principle
optical
wavefront
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04/01/09 wk8-b- 2
x=x0
incoming
plane wave
(on-axis)
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04/01/09 wk8-b- 3
opaque
screen
spherical
wave
z =l
x=x0
x=x0
incoming
plane wave
(on-axis)
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04/01/09 wk8-b- 4
opaque
screen
spherical
wave
spherical
wave
z =l
Young interferometer
observation
point x
x=x0
x=x0
incoming
plane wave
(on-axis)
MIT 2.71/2.710
04/01/09 wk8-b- 5
opaque
screen
z =l
Young interferometer
intensity
observation
point x
x=x0
x=x0
incoming
plane wave
(on-axis)
MIT 2.71/2.710
04/01/09 wk8-b- 6
opaque
screen
z =l
intensity
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04/01/09 wk8-b- 7
Thin transparency
incident
wavefront
transmitted
wavefront
>~
<~50
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04/01/09 wk8-b- 8
Assumptions:
features on the transparency are larger than ~
thickness of the transparency may be neglected
The transparency has two effects on the incoming wavefront:
attenuation, which is determined by the opacity of the
transparency at a given location, and typically is
binary (more common; transmission is either completely
clear or completely opaque) or
grayscale (at greater expense)
phase delay, which is dependent on the optical path length
(OPL) at the transmissive (or grayscale) locations, and is
binary (more common; phase delay is one of two values);
multi-level (at greater expense; phase delay is one of M
values); or
continuous (also known as surface relief)
The attenuation and phase delay imposed by the thin
transparency are described together as a
complex transmission function, whose
modulus is the attenuation; and
phase is the phase delay
incident
wavefront,
decomposed
into
Huygens
point sources
transmitted
wavefront,
decomposed
into
Huygens
point sources
MIT 2.71/2.710
04/01/09 wk8-b- 9
incident
wavefront,
decomposed
into
Huygens
point sources
transmitted
wavefront,
decomposed
into
Huygens
point sources
MIT 2.71/2.710
04/01/09 wk8-b-10
The spherical wave is the systems impulse response; in Optics, we refer to it as the
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04/01/09 wk8-b- 11
MIT 2.71/2.710
04/01/09 wk8-b-12
The ripples that arise near the edges of the aperture after a very short propagation distance and are
noticeable in the large aperture case are characteristic of diffraction with coherent illumination and are
referred to as Fresnel ripples or diffraction ripples.
The alternating peaks (bright) and nulls (dark) that are noticeable in the small aperture case are
referred to as Poisson spot or blinking spot.
MIT 2.71/2.710
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Fresnel ripples are again noticeable in the large aperture case but produce a different ripple structure
because of the rectangular geometry.
The diffraction pattern from the small aperture changes qualitatively after some propagation distance;
it begins to look like a sinc function, the Fourier transform of the boxcar function. We will explain this
phenomenon quantitatively very soon; we refer to it as the Fraunhofer diffraction regime.
Fraunhofer diffraction occurs in the case of the large aperture as well, but after a longer propagation
distance (we will quantify that as well.)
MIT 2.71/2.710
04/01/09 wk8-b-14
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