LaForge Joshua M, Steeves Geoffrey M
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria, STN CSC, Victoria, BC, Canada.
Rev Sci Instrum. 2008 Jun;79(6):063106. doi: 10.1063/1.2948309.
We present the theory and design of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with orthogonally polarized arms that passively, noninvasively, optically amplifies polarization rotation in one arm of the interferometer. Theoretical analysis of the electric fields in the two arms is used to compare the significance of device optimizations. Design of the beam alignment, beam recombination, noise isolation, and active stabilization to enable reliable measurements are thoroughly discussed. Finally, we review a comparison between the interferometer with an optical gain factor of approximately 4.5 and the optical bridge (OB) technique for polarization rotation detection that shows the interferometer offers better performance than the OB.
我们介绍了一种马赫-曾德尔干涉仪的理论与设计，该干涉仪具有正交偏振臂，能在干涉仪的一个臂中对偏振旋转进行无源、非侵入式的光学放大。通过对两臂中电场的理论分析来比较器件优化的重要性。详细讨论了光束对准、光束重组、噪声隔离和主动稳定化的设计，以实现可靠测量。最后，我们回顾了光学增益因子约为4.5的干涉仪与用于偏振旋转检测的光桥（OB）技术之间的比较，结果表明该干涉仪的性能优于OB技术。
