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Published September 8, 2011 | Published
Book Section - Chapter Open

Fourier Transforms By White-Light Interferometry: Michelson Stellar Interferometer Fringes

Abstract

The white-light compensated rotational shear interferometer (coherence interferometer) was developed in an effort to study the spatial frequency content of passively illuminated white-light scenes in real-time and to image sources of astronomical interest at high spatial frequencies through atmospheric turbulence. This work was inspired by Professor Goodman's studies of the image formation properties of coherent (laser) illuminated transparencies. We discovered that real-time image processing is possible using white-light interferometry. The concept of a quasimonoplanatic approximation is introduced as a parallel to the quasimonochromatic approximation needed to describe the theory of Fourier transform spectrometers. This paper describes the coherence interferometer and reviews its image formation properties under the conditions of quasimonoplanacity and describes its development and its applications to physical optics, optical processing and astrophysics including the search for exoplanets.

Additional Information

© 2011 SPIE Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. A white-light compensated rotational shear interferometer was developed with 90-degrees of shear. Theory was developed for the device and it was tested and applied to problems in optical information processing, astrophysics and atmospheric science. Since 1976 there have been over 200 scientific papers written using a coherence interferometer or rotational shear interferometer to acquire the data. The author would like to thank Professor Sergio Pellegrino at CALECH and Dean Jim Wyant of the College of Optical Sciences for their support during the preparation of this manuscript. Deep appreciation goes to Professors Joseph Goodman and Jack Gaskill for their skill in making a complex subject clear and concise.

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