Apparatus and methods employing harmonic analysis for measuring the difference in phase between two coherent beams
US5543914A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 13, 1995 |
| Grant date | Aug 6, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 13, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01B2290/70
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An improved interferometric measuring system that includes a system for measuring a phase difference between two coherent beams oscillating at substantially the same frequency, and including a phase modulator disposed into optical communication with one of the coherent beams and being adapted to generate a phase modulated beam signal. A beam combiner combines the phase modulated beam signal with the second one of the coherent beams to generate a combined beam signal. A detector element measures the intensity of the combined beam signal and a date processor analyzes the intensity to determine from the harmonic components of the combined beam signal the phase difference between the two coherent beams.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.