Michelson- versus Fizeau-type beam combination: is there a difference?

Michel Faucherre; Bernard Delabre; Philippe Dierickx; Fritz Merkle

doi:10.1117/12.19335

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1 August 1990 Michelson- versus Fizeau-type beam combination: is there a difference?

Michel Faucherre, Bernard Delabre, Philippe Dierickx, Fritz Merkle

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Proceedings Volume 1237, Amplitude and Intensity Spatial Interferometry; (1990) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.19335
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation for the 21st Century, 1990, Tucson, AZ, United States

Abstract

Pros and cons of Michelson and Fizeau type interferometer configurations are compared for systems in space having baselines in the 5 to 100 meter range, when a large field of view is requested for off-axis tracking. The size of the coherent field-of-view is larger in a Fizeau type interferometer but the tolerances required by wide field operation are easier to achieve in the Michelson type. Furthermore, aberration compensation, which calls for more than three optical elements per beam to assure that the beams overlap in the Fizeau field of view, makes it necessary to split the on and off-axis fields before the f/250 final combination plane in both cases. Two categories of configurations are defined: for baselines B less than 10 meters, a Fizeau type is preferable; conversely a Michelson type should be adopted when B is greater than 10 meters. After summarizing the difficulties to overcome in each type, a solution for each type in space environment is proposed.

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Michel Faucherre, Bernard Delabre, Philippe Dierickx, and Fritz Merkle "Michelson- versus Fizeau-type beam combination: is there a difference?", Proc. SPIE 1237, Amplitude and Intensity Spatial Interferometry, (1 August 1990); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.19335

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