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Results for “MICHELSON INTERFEROMETER”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1998

Unequal-Arms Michelson Interferometers

Michelson interferometers allow phase measurements many orders of magnitude below the phase stability of the laser light injected into their two almost equal-length arms.

Gravitational↗
NASA NTRS2000

Unequal-Arms Michelson Interferometers

Michelson interferometers allow phase measurements many orders of magnitude below the phase stability of the laser light injected into their two almost equal-length arms. If, however, the two arms are unequal, the laser fluctuations can not be removed by simply recombining the two beams. This is because the laser jitters experience different time delays in the two arms, and therefore can not cancel at the photo detector. We present here a method for achieving exact laser noise cancellation, even in an unequal-arm interferometer. The method presented in this paper requires a separate readout of the relative phase in each arm, made by interfering the returning beam in each arm with a fraction of the outgoing beam. By linearly combining the two data sets with themselves, after they have been properly time shifted, we show that it is possible to construct a new data set that is free of laser fluctuations. An application of this technique to future planned space-based laser interferometer detector3 of gravitational radiation is discussed.

Tinto, Massimo↗
NASA NTRS1999

Unequal-Arms Michelson Interferometers

Michelson interferometers allow phase measurements many orders of magnitude below the phase stability of the laser light injected into their two almost equal-length arms. If, however, the two arms are unequal, the laser fluctuations can not be removed by simply recombining the two beams. This is because the laser jitters experience different time delays in the two arms, and therefore can not cancel at the photo detector. We present here a method for achieving exact laser noise cancellation, even in an unequal-arm interferometer. The method presented in this paper requires a separate readout of the relative phase in each arm, made by interfering the returning beam in each arm with a fraction of the outgoing beam. By linearly combining the two data sets with themselves, after they have been properly time-shifted, we show that it is possible to construct a new data set that is free of laser fluctuations. An application of this technique to future planned space-based laser interferometer detectors of gravitational radiation is discussed.

Tinto, Massimo↗
NASA NTRS1970

The Nimbus III Michelson interferometer

Michelson IR interferometer spectrometer /IRIS/ design calibration and performance onboard Nimbus 3 satellite, demonstrating data reduction and inflight calibration

Chaney, L.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Michelson Interferometer

The Michelson Interferometer is a device used in many applications, but here it was used to measure small differences in distance, in the milli-inch range, specifically for defects in the Orbiter windows. In this paper, the method of using the Michelson Interferometer for measuring small distances is explained as well as the mathematics of the system. The coherence length of several light sources was calculated in order to see just how small a defect could be measured. Since white light is a very broadband source, its coherence length is very short and thus can be used to measure small defects in glass. After finding the front and back reflections from a very thin glass slide with ease and calculating the thickness of it very accurately, it was concluded that this system could find and measure small defects on the Orbiter windows. This report also discusses a failed attempt for another use of this technology as well as describes an area of promise for further analysis. The latter of these areas has applications for finding possible defects in Orbiter windows without moving parts.

Rogers, Ryan↗
NASA NTRS1972

Mariner 9 Michelson interferometer.

The Michelson interferometer on Mariner 9 measures the thermal emission spectrum of Mars between 200 and 2000 per cm (between 5 and 50 microns) with a spectral resolution of 2.4 per cm in the apodized mode. A noise equivalent radiance of 0.5 x 10 to the minus 7th W/sq cm/ster/cm is deduced from data recorded in orbit around Mars. The Mariner interferometer deviates in design from the Nimbus 3 and 4 interferometers in several areas, notably, by a cesium iodide beam splitter and certain aspects of the digital information processing. Special attention has been given to the problem of external vibration. The instrument performance is demonstrated by calibration data and samples of Mars spectra.

Hanel, R.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Michelson Interferometer (MINT)

MINT is a Michelson interferometer designed to measure the thermal emission from the earth at high spectral resolution (2/cm) over a broad spectral range (250-1700/cm, 6-40 mu m) with contiguous 3-pixel wide (12 mrad, 8 km field of view) along-track sampling. MINT is particularly well suited for monitoring cloud properties (cloud cover, effective temperature, optical thickness, ice/water phase, and effective particle size) both day and night, as well as tropospheric water vapor, ozone, and temperature. The key instrument characteristics that make MINT ideally suited for decadal monitoring purposes are: high wavelength to wavelength precision across the full IR spectrum with high spectral resolution; space-proven long-term durability and calibration stability; and small size, low cost, low risk instrument incorporating the latest detector and electronics technology. MINT also incorporates simplicity in design and operation by utilizing passively cooled DTGS detectors and nadir viewing geometry (with target motion compensation). MINT measurement objectives, instrument characteristics, and key advantages are summarized in this paper.

Lacis, Andrew↗
NASA NTRS1975

Phase correction for a Michelson interferometer with misaligned mirrors

The phase correction for a Michelson interferometer with misaligned mirrors in converging light is shown to give rise to a quadratic phase shift. In general, the calculation of a spectrum from the measured interferogram needs phase correction. Phase corrections have been well worked out for the cases of a linear phase shift and a phase that is slowly varying. The standard procedures for correcting calculated spectra need to be modified, however, to remove any phase errors resulting from misaligned mirrors.

Goorvitch, D.↗
NASA NTRS1993

A compact, high resolution Michelson interferometer for atmospheric spectroscopy in the near ultraviolet

A new, compact Fourier Transform Michelson interferometer (FTUV) with an apodized resolving power greater than 300,000 at 300 nm, high throughput and wide spectral coverage has been developed. The objectives include atmospheric spectroscopy (direct solar absorption and solar scattering) and laboratory spectroscopy of transient species. In this paper, we will briefly describe the prototype FTUV instrument and the results of preliminary laboratory investigations of OH and ClO spectra in emission and absorption.

Sander, Stanley P.↗