Enhanced resolution chirped-pulse interferometry

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel class of nonlinearly-chirped laser pulses in chirped-pulse interferometry, achieving resolution improvements that surpass quantum techniques and eliminate their advantage in dispersion-cancelled interferometry.

Contribution

It demonstrates how nonlinearly-chirped pulses can exceed the traditional resolution limits of CPI, surpassing quantum interferometry in dispersion cancellation.

Findings

Nonlinear chirping can improve CPI resolution beyond the √2 factor.

Enhanced CPI can match or exceed quantum interferometry resolution.

Quantum advantage in dispersion-cancelled interferometry can be eliminated.

Abstract

Chirped-pulse interferometry (CPI) is a classical low-coherence interferometry technique with automatic dispersion cancellation and improved resolution over white-light interference. Previous work has shown that CPI with linearly-chirped Gaussian laser pulses achieves a $\sqrt{2}$ improvement in resolution over conventional white-light interferometry, but this is less than the factor of 2 improvement exhibited by a comparable quantum technique. In this work, we show how a particular class of nonlinearly-chirped laser pulses can meet, and even exceed, the factor of 2 improvement resolution. This enhanced resolution CPI removes the remaining advantage of quantum interferometers in dispersion-cancelled interferometry.