Optical fringe formation in Michelson stellar interferometry

Victor L. Gamiz

doi:10.1117/12.683224

7 September 2006 Optical fringe formation in Michelson stellar interferometry

Victor L. Gamiz

Proceedings Volume 6307, Unconventional Imaging II; 63070C (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.683224
Event: SPIE Optics + Photonics, 2006, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

We examine the pairwise fringe formation process for Michelson stellar interferometry, focusing specifically on how the complex fringe visibility degrades with spatial sub-aperture decorrelations. The fringe intensity is formulated for spatially incoherent sources, radiating or re-radiating, thermal light over a spectral interval where the quasi-monochromatic and crossspectral purity approximations can be invoked. The imaging geometry is such that the source in distant enough to use the far-field approximation, and that a unique optical transfer function exists consistent with isoplanatic, or equivalently, linearly shift invariant imaging systems. It is shown that the complex fringe visibility is functionally dependent on the optical transfer function although the stellar interferometer does not form an image directly as would conventional imaging. The complex visibility is derived from the fringe intensity. Three forms of the complex visibility are developed and each formulation is interpreted.

Citation Download Citation

Victor L. Gamiz "Optical fringe formation in Michelson stellar interferometry", Proc. SPIE 6307, Unconventional Imaging II, 63070C (7 September 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.683224

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