5.9 KiB
| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interferometry | 9/10 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interferometry | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T09:43:15.174742+00:00 | kb-cron |
Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) is a radar technique used in geodesy and remote sensing. Satellite synthetic aperture radar images of a geographic feature are taken on separate days, and changes that have taken place between radar images taken on the separate days are recorded as fringes similar to those obtained in holographic interferometry. The technique can monitor centimeter- to millimeter-scale deformation resulting from earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides, and also has uses in structural engineering, in particular for the monitoring of subsidence and structural stability. Fig 20 shows Kilauea, an active volcano in Hawaii. Data acquired using the space shuttle Endeavour's X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar on April 13, 1994 and October 4, 1994 were used to generate interferometric fringes, which were overlaid on the X-SAR image of Kilauea. Electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI), also known as TV holography, uses video detection and recording to produce an image of the object upon which is superimposed a fringe pattern which represents the displacement of the object between recordings. (see Fig. 21) The fringes are similar to those obtained in holographic interferometry. When lasers were first invented, laser speckle was considered to be a severe drawback in using lasers to illuminate objects, particularly in holographic imaging because of the grainy image produced. It was later realized that speckle patterns could carry information about the object's surface deformations. Butters and Leendertz developed the technique of speckle pattern interferometry in 1970, and since then, speckle has been exploited in a variety of other applications. A photograph is made of the speckle pattern before deformation, and a second photograph is made of the speckle pattern after deformation. Digital subtraction of the two images results in a correlation fringe pattern, where the fringes represent lines of equal deformation. Short laser pulses in the nanosecond range can be used to capture very fast transient events. A phase problem exists: In the absence of other information, one cannot tell the difference between contour lines indicating a peak versus contour lines indicating a trough. To resolve the issue of phase ambiguity, ESPI may be combined with phase shifting methods. A method of establishing precise geodetic baselines, invented by Yrjö Väisälä, exploited the low coherence length of white light. Initially, white light was split in two, with the reference beam "folded", bouncing back-and-forth six times between a mirror pair spaced precisely 1 m apart. Only if the test path was precisely 6 times the reference path would fringes be seen. Repeated applications of this procedure allowed precise measurement of distances up to 864 meters. Baselines thus established were used to calibrate geodetic distance measurement equipment, leading to a metrologically traceable scale for geodetic networks measured by these instruments. (This method has been superseded by GPS.) Other uses of interferometers have been to study dispersion of materials, measurement of complex indices of refraction, and thermal properties. They are also used for three-dimensional motion mapping including mapping vibrational patterns of structures. Potential military applications of laser interferometry, documented as of 1964, included "precision positioning in research, manufacture, and in field use of equipment, such as missile alignment or turret aiming equipment; in geodesy and mapping, where one does not need a map accurate to microinches, but where the accurate establishment of base lines is essential; and in the remote measuring of variations of temperature in the atmosphere [...] which affect optical seeing ability."
=== Biology and medicine === Optical interferometry, applied to biology and medicine, provides sensitive metrology capabilities for the measurement of biomolecules, subcellular components, cells and tissues. Many forms of label-free biosensors rely on interferometry because the direct interaction of electromagnetic fields with local molecular polarizability eliminates the need for fluorescent tags or nanoparticle markers. At a larger scale, cellular interferometry shares aspects with phase-contrast microscopy, but comprises a much larger class of phase-sensitive optical configurations that rely on optical interference among cellular constituents through refraction and diffraction. At the tissue scale, partially-coherent forward-scattered light propagation through the micro aberrations and heterogeneity of tissue structure provides opportunities to use phase-sensitive gating (optical coherence tomography) as well as phase-sensitive fluctuation spectroscopy to image subtle structural and dynamical properties.
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a medical imaging technique using low-coherence interferometry to provide tomographic visualization of internal tissue microstructures. As seen in Fig. 22, the core of a typical OCT system is a Michelson interferometer. One interferometer arm is focused onto the tissue sample and scans the sample in an X-Y longitudinal raster pattern. The other interferometer arm is bounced off a reference mirror. Reflected light from the tissue sample is combined with reflected light from the reference. Because of the low coherence of the light source, interferometric signal is observed only over a limited depth of sample. X-Y scanning therefore records one thin optical slice of the sample at a time. By performing multiple scans, moving the reference mirror between each scan, an entire three-dimensional image of the tissue can be reconstructed. Recent advances have striven to combine the nanometer phase retrieval of coherent interferometry with the ranging capability of low-coherence interferometry.