Desktop interferometer for optical synthesis imaging

Peter R. Lawson; Donald M. A. Wilson; John E. Baldwin

doi:10.1117/12.457007

21 February 2003 Desktop interferometer for optical synthesis imaging

Peter R. Lawson, Donald M. A. Wilson, John E. Baldwin

Proceedings Volume 4838, Interferometry for Optical Astronomy II; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.457007
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 2002, Waikoloa, Hawai'i, United States

Abstract

A simple desktop optical interferometer is described and demonstrated as a teaching tool for concepts of long-baseline stellar interferometry. The interferometer is compact, portable, and easily aligned. It sits on a base 8" x 10" and uses an aperture mask which is mounted to rotate within a precision ball-bearing. Fringes produced from an artificial star are observed through a microscope by means of a video camera and are displayed on an overhead television monitor. When the aperture mask is rotated rapidly, the rotating fringe patterns seen on the monitor are observed to synthesize sources that are unresolved by individual holes in the mask. Fringes from an artificial double star are used to illustrate the relationship between fringe visibility and source structure and to demonstrate image synthesis.

Citation Download Citation

Peter R. Lawson, Donald M. A. Wilson, and John E. Baldwin "Desktop interferometer for optical synthesis imaging", Proc. SPIE 4838, Interferometry for Optical Astronomy II, (21 February 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.457007

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