Abstract

The effect of multiple reflections from a semireflecting surface such as an interference filter located in front of or behind a wide-angle Michelson interferometer (WAMI) is examined. By considering the instrument as a complex operator on the incident electric field, theoretical results are obtained which describe a large variety of configurations. Experimental results are presented which are consistent with these results. It is concluded that since the presence of these reflections changes the form of the observed fringes and affects measurements of the phase and visibility of the fringes, care must be taken to avoid such reflections in designing WAMIs.

© 1985 Optical Society of America

WAMDII: wide-angle Michelson Doppler imaging interferometer for Spacelab

Gordon G. Shepherd, William A. Gault, D. W. Miller, Z. Pasturczyk, Sean F. Johnston, P. R. Kosteniuk, J. W. Haslett, David J. W. Kendall, and J. R. Wimperis
Appl. Opt. 24(11) 1571-1584 (1985)

Optimized reflective wide-angle Michelson phase-stepping interferometer

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Wide-Angle Michelson Interferometer for Measuring Doppler Line Widths*

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Fully compensated Michelson interferometer of fixed-path difference

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