Swept-wave Interferometry
Swept-wave Interferometry - Related Videos
12:14
The Generation of Higher-order Laguerre-Gauss Optical Beams for High-precision Interferometry
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Cited by 7 •
2013
Large laser-interferometers are being constructed to create a new type of astronomy based on gravitational waves. Their sensitivities, as for many other high-precision experiments, are approaching fundamental noise limits such as the atomic vibration of their components. We are pioneering technologies to overcome these limits using novel laser beam shapes.
05:13
Biolayer Interferometry Technology to Detect Interactions between Ligand and Analyte
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2025
In this video, we demonstrate biolayer interferometry (BLI) technology to detect the intermolecular interactions between ligands and target analytes in real-time. BLI measures changes in the interference pattern of white light reflected off a layer of immobilized ligands on a biosensor surface as they interact with analytes in solution.
09:32
Standing Waves
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2023
Source: Arianna Brown, Asantha Cooray, PhD, Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA Standing waves, or stationary waves, are waves that appear not to propagate and are produced by the interference of two waves traveling in opposite directions with the same frequency and amplitude. These waves appear to vibrate up and down with no linear movement and are most easily identified in vibrating finite media like a plucked guitar string,...
02:12
The Wave Nature of Light
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2020
The nature of light has been a subject of inquiry since antiquity. In the seventeenth century, Isaac Newton performed experiments with lenses and prisms and was able to demonstrate that white light consists of the individual colors of the rainbow combined together. Newton explained his optics findings in terms of a "corpuscular" view of light, in which light was composed of streams of extremely tiny particles traveling at high speeds according to Newton's laws of motion. Others in the...
09:12
Sound Waves and Doppler Shift
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2023
Source: Arianna Brown, Asantha Cooray, PhD, Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA Waves are disturbances that propagate through a material medium or empty space. Light waves can travel through a vacuum and some forms of matter, and are transverse in nature, which means that the oscillations are perpendicular to the direction of propagation. However, sound waves are pressure waves that travel through an elastic medium like air,...
FAQs
Distance information is encoded in the frequency-dependent phase of the interference fringes. As the tunable source progresses through its wavelength range, the phase changes according to the optical path difference between the reference and test paths. Analyzing that phase therefore converts the fringe record into path-length information, which can be related to displacement or distance after appropriate calibration.
The sweep range determines how much frequency-dependent interference information is recorded, while the reference and test paths establish the optical path difference being measured. A wider or narrower range may change the available fringe record, but the measurement uses a defined range selected for the application. Careful control of that range is therefore central to consistent engineering results.
Fourier-transform analysis and phase analysis extract the same underlying path-difference information through different mathematical routes. Phase analysis follows the fringe phase directly, whereas a Fourier transform reveals path-related content from the recorded frequency variation. This choice lets an engineering measurement emphasize either phase behavior or a transformed representation, while calibration remains necessary when material dispersion is required.
A practical sequence begins by establishing reference and test paths, selecting a defined wavelength sweep, and recording the resulting interference fringes as the source frequency varies. The recorded signal is then analyzed through phase extraction or Fourier transformation to obtain optical path differences. If material dispersion is a target, the result receives suitable calibration before engineering interpretation.
Optical path difference alone does not directly provide a material-dispersion result. The measurement must be calibrated so changes associated with propagation through the material can be interpreted as dispersion. This distinction matters in transparent-material inspection and component characterization, where the engineering objective extends beyond locating a surface or tracking displacement.
The technique is useful wherever noncontact optical path measurements support dimensional or material evaluation. Engineering applications listed for it include high-resolution dimensional metrology, surface profiling, fiber and optical-component characterization, noncontact inspection, and structural monitoring. Its ability to measure through transparent materials broadens inspection options, while displacement information supports precision manufacturing and photonics work.