Abstract

An efficient beam splitter for a Michelson interferometer can be made from a pair of prisms, using the process of frustrated total internal reflection. Although the phases and irradiances of the beams reflected and transmitted by the beam splitter depend on the polarization, the phase difference between the two interferometer beams vanishes for all polarizations and the transmittance can be made polarization insensitive by suitable design. The interferometer transmits radiant power within a wavelength band approximately two octaves wide, and rejects all other radiant power. The design, laboratory tests, and astronomical applications of an interferometer for the millimeter and submillimeter regions are discussed. An observation of the day-sky spectrum is presented.

© 1975 Optical Society of America

Interference-enhanced frustrated total internal reflection

John R. Hull and Malvern K. Iles
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 70(1) 17-28 (1980)

Circular polarization beam splitter that uses frustrated total internal reflection by an embedded symmetric achiral multilayer coating

R. M. A. Azzam and A. De
Opt. Lett. 28(5) 355-357 (2003)

A Birefringent Frustrated Total Reflection Filter

B. H. Billings
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 40(7) 471-476 (1950)

Wide-angle, high-extinction-ratio, infrared polarizing beam splitters using frustrated total internal reflection by an embedded centrosymmetric multilayer

Siva R. Perla and R. M. A. Azzam
Appl. Opt. 46(21) 4604-4612 (2007)

Absorbing beam splitter in a Michelson interferometer

J. J. Monzón and L. L. Sánchez-Soto
Appl. Opt. 34(34) 7834-7839 (1995)