Effects of optical axis direction on optical path difference and lateral displacement of Savart polariscope

A simple method is applied to calculating the optical path difference （OPD） of a plane parallel uniaxial plate with an arbitrary optical axis direction. Then, the theoretical expressions of the OPD and lateral displacement （LD） of Savart polariscope under non-ideal conditions are obtained exactly. The variations of OPD and LD are simulated, and some important conclusions are obtained when the optical axis directions have an identical tolerance of ／pm 1^{{／circ}}. An application example is given that the tolerances of optical axis directions are gained according to the spectral resolution tolerances of the stationary polarization interference imaging spectrometer （SPIIS）. Several approximate formulae are obtained for explaining some conclusions above. The work provides a theoretical guidance for the optic design, crystal processing, installation and debugging, data analysis and spectral reconstruction of the SPIIS.

Analysing the structure of the optical path length of a supersonic mixing layer by using wavelet methods

The nano-particle-based planar laser scattering （NPLS） technique is used to measure the density distribution in the supersonic mixing layer of the convective Mach number 0.12, and the optical path difference （OPL）, which is quite crucial for the study of aero-optics, is obtained by post processing. Based on the high spatiotemporal resolutions of the NPLS, the structure of the OPL is ana]ysed using wavelet methods. The coherent structures of the OPL are extracted using three methods, including the methods of thresholding the coefficients of the orthogonal wavelet transform and the wavelet packet transform, and preserving a number of wavelet packet coefficients with the largest amplitudes determined by the entropy dimension. Their performances are compared, and the method using the wavelet packet is the best. Based on the viewpoint of multifractals, we study the OPL by the wavelet transform maxima method （WTMM）, and the result indicates that its scaling behaviour is evident.

Universal form of the power spectrum of the aero-optical aberration caused by the supersonic turbulent boundary layer

Based on the measurement of one-dimensional （1D） optical path difference （OPD） of the supersonic turbulent bound- ary layer, an analytical form for the power spectrum of the two-dimensional （2D） OPD is obtained with its structure function and under the locally homogeneous isotropic assumption. The universality of this spectrum is argued, and its validity is checked by the comparison with experimental result. The potential applications of this model in theoretical and numerical studies are emphasized. Another contribution of this work is around the application of correlation function to analyzing the statistics of OPD. Based on our results and other results published elsewhere, we show that the OPD is often not stationary, and one should be cautious about using this tool.

Dependence of interferogram phase on incident wavenumber and phase stability of Doppler asymmetric spatial heterodyne spectroscopy

Instrument drifts introduce additional phase errors into atmospheric wind measurement of Doppler asymmetric spatial heterodyne spectroscopy (DASH). Aiming at the phase sensitivity of DASH to instrument drifts, in this paper we calculate the optical path difference (OPD) and present an accurate formula of DASH interferogram. By controlling variables in computational ray-tracing simulations and laboratory experiments, it is indicated that initial phase is directly determined by incident wavenumber, OPD offset and field of view (FOV). Accordingly, it is indicated that retrieved phase of DASH is sensitive to slight structural change caused by instrument drift, which provides the proof of necessary-to-track and -correct phase errors from instrument drifts.

A novel polarization interferometer for measuring upper atmospheric winds

A static polarization interferometer for measuring upper atmospheric winds is presented, based on two Savart plates with their optical axes perpendicular to each other. The principle and characteristics of the interferometer are described. The interferometer with a wide field of view can offer a stable benchmark optical path difference over a specified spectral region of 0.55-0.63μm because there are no quarter wave plates. Since the instrument employs a straight line common-path configuration but without moving parts and slits, it is very compact, simple, inherently robust and has high throughput. The paper is limited to a theoretical analysis.

Use of Virtual Medium in Designing of the CGH Wave Front Generator for Aspheric Testing

Design method and procedures of computer-generated hologram （CGH） used for aspheric test are in- troduced in detail. For CGH phase calculation, virtual medium which has zero refractive index at given wavelength is used to model ideal aspheric wavefront. Reflective Fresnel zones located in a ring area concentric to the CGH structure is designed to reduce or eliminate alignment errors. Substrate figure error, pattern distortion, etching and duty cycle variations that influence the reconstructed wavefront are quantitatively analyzed in theory and corresponding error equations are obtained to guide the tolerance distribution during CGH fabricating. A design example is given and the uncertainty of t achieves λ20.

Multi-wavelength laser active coherent combination

A seed laser oscillating at different frequencies is proved to have the potential to mitigate the stimulated Brillouin scattering（SBS） effect in a fiber amplifier,which may increase the emission power of a coherent beam combination（CBC） system greatly.In this study,a basic mathematical model describing the multi-wavelength CBC is proposed on the fundamentals of CBC.A useful method for estimating the combination effect and analysing the feasibility and the validity of the multi-wavelength coherent combination is provided.In the numerical analysis,accordant results with four-wavelength four-channel CBC experiments are obtained.Through calculations of some examples with certain spectra,the unanticipated excellent combination effect with a few frequencies involved is explained,and the dependence of the combination effect on the variance of the amplifier chain length and the channel number is clarified.

Fiber Fabry-Perot Demodulation System Based on Dual Fizeau Interferometers

In this study,we present a dual-Fizeau-interferometer-based high-speed and wide-range fiber-optic Fabry-Perot(F-P)demodulation system.We employ two Fizeau interferometers with air cavity thickness satisfying the quadrature requirement to increase the demodulation speed and broaden the demodulation range in order to address the issues of the existing fiber F-P demodulation system's sluggish demodulation rate and limited range.In order to investigate the demodulation properties of the dual-Fizeau-interferometer-based demodulation system,we derive and create a theoretical model of the system.The theoretical model,which primarily consists of the structural design of the interferometer and the study of the center wavelength of the light sources and their bandwidth selection,is used to construct the optical structure of the demodulation system.According to the calculation results,the demodulated signal exhibits the best contrast ratio when the two light sources'respective center wavelengths are 780nm and 850nm,and their bandwidths are 28nm and 30 nm.Finally,we finish evaluating the demodulation system's demodulation performance,parameter calibration,and assembly debugging.The test results demonstrate the constant operation of the demodulation system,an update rate of 100kHz,a demodulation range of 4.74μm,and a cavity length resolution of approximately 5 nm.Additionally,the system can perform high speed demodulation thanks to the light emitting diode's(LED's)nanosecond level switching speed and the usage of a single point detector.

Recent Developments in Fiber Optic Spectral White-Light Interferometry

Recent developments in spectral white-light interferometry(WLI)are reviewed.Firstly,the techniques for obtaining optical spectrum are introduced.Secondly,some novel measurement techniques are reviewed,including the improved peak-to-peak WLI,improved wavelength-tracking WLI,Fourier transform WLI,and 3×3 coupler based WLI.Furthermore,a hybrid measurement for the intensity-type sensors,interferometric sensors,and fiber Bragg grating sensors is achieved.It is shown that these developments have assisted in the progress of WLI.