Low-Coherence Michelson's Interferometer

By Matt Ruby Abstract: A broadband interferometer may be used to balance or make the distance between the two interferometer arms equal. sin! this method" you should be able to balance the arms of a Michelson's interferometer to within the coherence len!th of the source that is bein! used # $%-& microns in our case'. (he calculated black-body coherence len!th is $ ).*microns. (his article will describe the setu+ and +ro+erties of this interferometer.

Basics:
(he Michelson's interferometer uses the su+er+osition +rinci+le of li!ht to create interference frin!es. (he su+er+osition +rinci+le states that when two beams of li!ht o,er-la+" you can add the com+onents of the in+ut beams to !et the out+ut beam.

Coherence Length:
The coherence length, Lc, is the distance over which the phase of the light becomes uncorrelated with itself. (hat is" consider the +hase of a beam of li!ht at two s+atial +oints -% and -&. If -&--% is less than Lc then the +hases at the two +oints are #at least +artially' correlated. If -&--% is !reater than Lc then the +hases at the two +oints are uncorrelated. .lease take note that the a,era!e /010 laser has a Lc $ &)cm" but s+ectrally broad li!ht may ha,e Lc of only a few microns. (his means that for the broadband interferometer we will need to ha,e the two beam +aths in 2i!#%' be equal to within the coherence len!th of the source" in order to obser,e interference +atterns.

Fig(1). Michelson's interferometer.

2i!#&' shows how the +in hole is used to modify the wa,e fronts so that they are more uniform in the trans,erse direction. (his increases the trans,erse coherence area and allows the obser,ation of the frin!es o,er the entire trans,erse +rofile of the li!ht beam while lea,in! the lon!itudinal coherence len!th essentially unchan!ed.

Fig(2). On the left the wavefronts of the light have a small coherence area. On the right (after the pinhole) the wavefronts have a very much larger coherence area.

Set-Up: Source
Before buildin! the interferometer we must first build the li!ht source that will be used by the interferometer. (o start with" we will use a hi!h-+ower broadband li!ht source. (his source will be mounted to an o+tical table so that there will be minimal ,ibrations actin! on the set-u+. #.lease note3 this !o's for all the o+tics and mounts in this article.' After the hi!h +ower source" you will want to focus as much li!ht as you can throu!h an $%)) micron +inhole. (his will +ro,ide the necessary trans,erse modification to the li!ht's wa,efronts. It is best to use an achromatic" as+herical condenser lens with a short focal len!th to accom+lish this. (he li!ht from the +inhole will be collimated" by +lacin! another short focal len!th lens after the +inhole. (he distance from the +inhole to the lens should be equal to the focal len!th of the lens. Note: for easy alignment, you may want to use translational stages to align the focusing lens, pinhole, and collimating lens

Fig(3). Source optical setup.

Set-Up: !nterferometer
Buildin! the interferometer is fairly sim+le" as shown in 2i!#%'. (here is a beams+litter" with two o++osite sides blocked by mirrors. (his interferometer will ha,e one of these two mirrors on a translation sta!e" so that we can balance the distance of the two mirrors with the beams+litter. Note: "he system is easy to build, the first alignment is #!$$!CUL"

Alignment
(ake a ruler to rou!hly balance the interferometer mirrors. 4lowly" mo,e the translation mirror towards the +oint where you think the mirrors will be an equal distance from the center of the beams+litter. Introduce the source li!ht into the interferometer. 5,erla+ the beam at two reasonably distant s+atial +oints. se a di,er!in! lens on the out+ut arm of the interferometer. 6ou should see a rou!hly circular" rou!hly homo!eneous white s+ot with #unless you're ,ery lucky' no dark frin!es. 4lowly ad7ust the len!th of one of the two #mirror' arms until you see some dark frin!e +atterns.

Below is a +icture of my beam correction o+tics A8A the system that collimates the white li!ht source and modified the coherence area #in the trans,erse direction'.

2i!#9'. 2rom left to ri!ht3 iris" collimatin! lens" +inhole" condenser lens and li!ht source.

"ips
-:hen balancin! the mirrors arms ;5 4L5:< It may be time consumin!" but if you !o fast you=ll +ass the frin!es without seein! them. - se a +ower meter to ma>imi?e li!ht throu!h the +inhole. -.ut an iris in front of the collimatin! lens so that you can ad7ust the beam diameter. - se a di,er!in! lens at the out+ut of the interferometer so that it is easy to see the frin!es. - se a beams+littin! cube.

Sources
%. 2i!#%'@htt+3AAen.wiki+edia.or!AwikiA2ile34+atialBcoherenceB+inhole.+n! &. Bryan Bo!!s" uore!on 5+tics (eachin! Lab C. 2i!#C'@ htt+3AA+hysics.schooltool.nlAirs+ectrosco+yAima!esAmichelsonBinterferometer.!if