Abstract
The ability of an interferometer to characterize the spatial information of a light beam is often limited by the temporal profile of the beam, with femtosecond pulse characterization being particularly challenging. In this study, we developed a simple, stable, controllable shearing and vectorial phase-shifting wedged reversal shearing interferometer that is able to characterize all types of coherent and partially coherent light beams. The proposed interferometer consists of only a single beam splitter cube with one wedged entrance face and is insensitive to environmental vibration due to its common path configuration. A near zero-path length difference of the proposed interferometer ensures its operation for ultrashort pulses, providing, for the first time, a simple and stable interferometric tool to fully characterize sub-100 fs laser pulses. All common beam characterization can be carried out with the interferometer, such as the amplitude, phase, polarization, wavelength, and pulse duration. Furthermore, this technique is sensitive to the wavefront tilt and can be used for precise beam alignment. Therefore, this interferometer can be an essential tool for beam characterization, optical imaging, and the testing required for a wide range of applications, including astronomy, biomedicine, ophthalmology, optical testing and imaging systems, and adaptive optics.
Highlights
1234567890():,; 1234567890():,; 1234567890():,; 1234567890():,; Introduction Spatial characterization of electromagnetic radiation is essential for most optical imaging and testing, covering a broad range of applications, such as astronomy, biomedicine, ophthalmology, optical testing, imaging systems, and adaptive optics[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]
The most advanced spatial characterization tools that can fully characterize the wavefront are the non-interferometric type—the Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor that is commonly used for wavefront sensing, and an interferometric type—the lateral shearing interferometer, where two wavefronts are sheared laterally, which is widely used for optical testing[1, 2]
We have conceptualized and developed a wedged reversal shearing interferometer (WRSI) that is applicable for ultrafast light beams and suitable for a wide range of beam sizes
Summary
Spatial characterization of electromagnetic radiation is essential for most optical imaging and testing, covering a broad range of applications, such as astronomy, biomedicine, ophthalmology, optical testing, imaging systems, and adaptive optics[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. Interferometric spatial characterization tools face more challenges when characterizing pulsed light beams than when characterizing continuous waves. The greatest challenges are when characterizing ultrashort pulses at a Currently, the most advanced spatial characterization tools that can fully characterize the wavefront are the non-interferometric type—the Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor that is commonly used for wavefront sensing, and an interferometric type—the lateral shearing interferometer, where two wavefronts are sheared laterally, which is widely used for optical testing[1, 2]. The Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor can measure femtosecond laser pulses, the transverse resolution is limited by the lenslet size[3]. While the lateral shearing interferometer typically has a better resolution, the measurement of femtosecond laser pulses with this method is challenging due to the extremely short coherence length for
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