High-spatial resolution second-harmonic interferometry: A robust method towards quantitative phase imaging of transparent dispersive materials

Year: 2013

Authors: Brandi F., Conti F., Tiberi M., Giammanco F., Diaspro A.

Autors Affiliation: Dipartimento di Nanofisica, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Morego 30, 16163 Genova, Italy; Dipartimento di Fisica E.Fermi, Universita degli Studi di Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa, Italy; Plasma Diagnostics and Technologies Ltd., via Roma 30, 56127 Pisa, Italy CORRESPONDENCE ADDRESS: Dipartimento di Nanofisica, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Morego 30, 16163 Genova, Italy CONFERENCE NAME: The European Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, CLEO_Europe 2013 CONFERENCE DATE: 12 May 2013 through 16 May 2013 CONFERENCE LOCATION: Munich CONFERENCE CODE: 104365 ISSN: 21622701 ISBN: 9781479905942 LANGUAGE OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENT: English ABBREVIATED SOURCE TITLE: Opt.InfoBase Conf. Papers DOCUMENT TYPE: Conference Paper PUBLICATION STAGE: Final

Abstract: Chromatic dispersion is a fundamental optical property of materials related to physical quantities such ad density and chemical composition. The dispersion can be measured by multi-wavelength interferometry which is more robust compared with single wavelength interferometry since common-phase noise, e.g., optical path length fluctuations, are efficiently compensated. Therefore, a sensitive and fast method to measure dispersion with high spatial resolution would be a very efficient and robust tool in metrology, diagnostics, and industrial inspection. A simple, yet very effective and sensitive, method to exploit dispersion is the use of the so-called second-harmonic interferometer (SHI), which is a fully common-path two-color interferometer [1]. In a SHI the fundamental and second-harmonic beams co-propagate through the sample, then the fundamental beam is frequency doubled again, and finally the two second-harmonic beams interfere.

Journal/Review: JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA B-OPTICAL PHYSICS

KeyWords: Measurement by laser beam; Optical interferometry; Dispersion; Spatial resolution; Frequency conversion
DOI: 10.1109/CLEOE-IQEC.2013.6801218