Wei R, Di L, Qiao N, Chen S. W-shaped common-path interferometer.
APPLIED OPTICS 2020;
59:10973-10979. [PMID:
33361920 DOI:
10.1364/ao.411150]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2020] [Accepted: 11/10/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
We present a novel static W-shaped common-path interferometer. In particular, the W-shaped common-path corner-cube retroreflector interferometer (W-CPRI) is introduced via detailed analysis of its working principles and performance. It comprises two corner-cube retroreflectors (CCRs), a reflecting mirror (RM), and a beam splitter. For each interference output of an ideal W-CPRI, the two beams recombine and have the same output direction, including a tilted CCR. In a deformed W-CPRI structure, an optical path difference can be produced by inserting an optical element that changes the optical path in the interferometer arm of the W-CPRI. The posture deviations of the RM and the CCRs in the W-CPRI are analyzed. In addition, a proof-of-concept experiment is conducted, with the stability analyzed using the fringe similarity method. The average cosine similarity is 0.9953, revealing that this W-CPRI has high stability and strong coherence while avoiding the tilt and displacement of the interferometer arm.
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