Peak-to-peak tracking method for measurement of optical path difference: Revisited

Abstract

This paper reports on the measurement of optical path difference of spectral interference signal by using the peak-to-peak tracking method in the wavelength domain. Numerical simulations are performed to produce the interference spectrum based on an all fibre Mach-Zehnder interferometer with a white light source. The peak-to-peak tracking method is improvised by measuring the wavelength value corresponding to bright fringes from the phase plot for determination of the optical path difference. The results are compared to the conventional peak-to-peak tracking method and measurement of the slope of phase against wavenumber plot. Optical path difference determined from the improvised method yields higher accuracy with lower uncertainty.