Algebraic cancellation of polarisation noise in fibre interferometers

Opt Express. 2016 May 16;24(10):10486-94. doi: 10.1364/OE.24.010486.

Abstract

This experiment uses digital interferometry to reduce polarisation noise from a fiber interferometer to the level of double Rayleigh backscatter making precision fiber metrology systems robust for remote field applications. This is achieved with a measurement of the Jones matrix with interferometric sensitivity in real time, limited only by fibre length and processing bandwidth. This new approach leads to potentially new metrology applications and the ability to do ellipsometry without polarisation elements in the output field.