interferometry
Sign in to savethumb|250px|Figure 1. The light path through a Michelson interferometer. The two light rays with a common source combine at the half-silvered mirror to reach the detector. They may either interfere constructively (strengthening in intensity) if their light waves arrive in phase, or interfere destructively (weakening in intensity) if they arrive out of phase, depending on the exact distances between the three mirrors.
Article
15 sectionsContents
- Basic principles
- History
- Categories
- Homodyne versus heterodyne detection <span class="anchor" id="Heterodyne detection"></span>
- Double path versus common path{{anchor|Double path}}
- Wavefront splitting versus amplitude splitting
- Wavefront splitting inferometers
- Amplitude-splitting inferometers
- Michelson-Morley
- Applications
- Physics and astronomy
- Engineering and applied science
- Biology and medicine
- See also
- References
thumb|250px|Figure 1. The light path through a Michelson interferometer. The two light rays with a common source combine at the half-silvered mirror to reach the detector. They may either interfere constructively (strengthening in intensity) if their light waves arrive in phase, or interfere destructively (weakening in intensity) if they arrive out of phase, depending on the exact distances between the three mirrors.
Interferometry is a technique which uses the interference of superimposed waves to extract information. Interferometry typically uses electromagnetic waves and is an important investigative technique in the fields of astronomy, fiber optics, engineering metrology, optical metrology, oceanography, seismology, spectroscopy (and its applications to chemistry), quantum mechanics, nuclear and particle physics, plasma physics, biomolecular interactions, surface profiling, microfluidics, mechanical stress/strain measurement, velocimetry, optometry, and making holograms.