Radio-frequency low-coherence interferometry

Opt Lett. 2014 Jun 15;39(12):3634-7. doi: 10.1364/OL.39.003634.

Abstract

A method for retrieving low-coherence interferograms, based on the use of a microwave photonics filter, is proposed and demonstrated. The method is equivalent to the double-interferometer technique, with the scanning interferometer replaced by an analog fiber-optics link and the visibility recorded as the amplitude of its radio-frequency (RF) response. As a low-coherence interferometry system, it shows a decrease of resolution induced by the fiber's third-order dispersion (β3). As a displacement sensor, it provides highly linear and slope-scalable readouts of the interferometer's optical path difference in terms of RF, even in the presence of third-order dispersion. In a proof-of-concept experiment, we demonstrate 20-μm displacement readouts using C-band EDFA sources and standard single-mode fiber.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Interferometry / instrumentation
  • Interferometry / methods*
  • Interferometry / statistics & numerical data
  • Microwaves
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Optical Fibers
  • Optical Phenomena
  • Radio Waves