Common mode noise rejection properties of amplitude and phase noise in a heterodyne interferometer

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how heterodyne interferometers can suppress high-frequency amplitude and phase noise through phase subtraction, enhancing measurement accuracy in high-precision metrology systems.

Contribution

It provides analytical and simulation-based insights into high-frequency noise suppression mechanisms, guiding design improvements for heterodyne interferometers.

Findings

High frequency noise can be fully suppressed depending on phase differences.

Phase subtraction effectively reduces noise in heterodyne interferometry.

Results are applicable to space-based optical metrology systems like LISA Pathfinder.

Abstract

High precision metrology systems based on heterodyne interferometry can measure position and attitude of objects to accuracies of picometer and nanorad, respectively. A frequently found feature of the general system design is the subtraction of a reference phase from the phase of the position interferometer, which suppresses low frequency common mode amplitude and phase fluctuations occurring in volatile optical path sections shared by both, the position and reference interferometer. Spectral components of the noise at frequencies around or higher than the heterodyne frequency, however, are generally transmitted into the measurement band and may limit the measurement accuracy. Detailed analytical calculations complemented with Monte Carlo simulations show that high frequency noise components may also be entirely suppressed, depending on the relative difference of measurement and reference phase, which may be exploited by corresponding design provisions. Whilst these results are applicable to any heterodyne interferometer with certain design characteristics, specific calculations and related discussions are given for the example of the optical metrology system of the LISA Pathfinder mission to space.