Provided is a system for range detection including at least one beam source arrangement configured to provide illumination of certain coherence length, an optical arrangement, and a detection arrangement including at least one detector unit.

A polarization-separated, phase-shifted interferometer can generate interferograms without moving parts. It uses a phase shifter, such as an electro-optic phase modulator, to modulate the relative phase between sample and reference beams. These beams are transformed into orthogonal polarization states (e.g., horizontally and vertically polarized states) and coupled via a common path (e.g., polarization-maintaining fiber) to a polarizing beam splitter (PBS), which sends them into separate sample and reference arms. Quarter-wave plates in the sample and reference arms rotate the polarization states of the sample and reference beams so they are coupled out of the PBS to a detector via a 45° linear polarizer. The polarizer projects the aligned polarization components of the sample and reference beams onto the detector, where they interfere with known relative phase to produce an output that can be used to map surface topography of the test object.

OCT measuring device in the present exemplary embodiment includes: wavelength sweep light source that emits light of which a wavelength is swept; optical interferometer that divides the light into measurement light and reference light, emits measurement light toward measurement surface of measuring target object, and generates an optical interference intensity signal indicating an intensity of interference between measurement light reflected from measurement surface and reference light; electro-optic element which is a phase modulator arranged in a light path of optical interferometer; measurement processor which is a signal generator that derives a position of measurement surface and generates a phase amount indicator signal that indicates a phase amount of phase modulator based on the optical interference intensity signal; and electro-optic element controller which is a phase amount controller that controls the phase amount given to the light that is transmitted through phase modulator.

Systems and methods for dynamic locking of optical path times using entangled photons are provided. A system includes an optical source for generating bi-photons; tracer laser beam sources for generating tracer laser beams; telescopes that emit the tracer laser beams and the bi-photons to remote reflectors, each bi-photon traveling along an optical path in a pair of optical paths toward a corresponding remote reflector, wherein the telescopes receive reflected bi-photons from the remote reflectors; and communication links, wherein the optical source respectively communicates with first and second remote reflectors through a first and second communication link. Also, the optical source uses the tracer laser beams and the communication links to respectively point the bi-photons towards the remote reflectors. Moreover, the system includes an interferometer that provides information regarding detection of the reflected bi-photons, wherein the optical source uses the information to adjust optical path lengths to be substantially equal.

OCT measuring device in the present exemplary embodiment includes: wavelength sweep light source that emits light of which a wavelength is swept; optical interferometer that divides the light into measurement light and reference light, emits measurement light toward measurement surface of measuring target object, and generates an optical interference intensity signal indicating an intensity of interference between measurement light reflected from measurement surface and reference light; electro-optic element which is a phase modulator arranged in a light path of optical interferometer; measurement processor which is a signal generator that derives a position of measurement surface and generates a phase amount indicator signal that indicates a phase amount of phase modulator based on the optical interference intensity signal; and electro-optic element controller which is a phase amount controller that controls the phase amount given to the light that is transmitted through phase modulator.

Systems and methods for dynamic locking of optical path times using entangled photons are provided. A system includes an optical source for generating bi-photons; tracer laser beam sources for generating tracer laser beams; telescopes that emit the tracer laser beams and the bi-photons to remote reflectors, each bi-photon traveling along an optical path in a pair of optical paths toward a corresponding remote reflector, wherein the telescopes receive reflected bi-photons from the remote reflectors; and communication links, wherein the optical source respectively communicates with first and second remote reflectors through a first and second communication link. Also, the optical source uses the tracer laser beams and the communication links to respectively point the bi-photons towards the remote reflectors. Moreover, the system includes an interferometer that provides information regarding detection of the reflected bi-photons, wherein the optical source uses the information to adjust optical path lengths to be substantially equal.

To provide a reflected light measurement device capable of efficiently performing disconnection inspection on an optical connector, and a plurality of optical fibers. The reflected light measurement device 1 includes a laser light source 2, a beam splitter 3 that branches measurement laser light L into measurement laser light L1 to be transmitted and reference laser light L2 to be reflected, a reference mirror 4 including an optical path length varying mechanism capable of adjusting an optical path length of the reference laser light L2, an optical path length switching unit 5, and switches the optical path length of the reference laser light L2 to a plurality of fixed lengths, and a photometer 6 that receives measurement laser light L1′ reflected at defect sites D1 and D2 such as disconnection inside connectors C1 and C2, and reference laser light L2′ reflected by the reference mirror 4.

A high-performance single-chip, integrated-optics-based OCT system is disclosed, where the length of the reference arm is digitally variable. The reference arm includes a plurality of switch stages comprising a 22 tunable wavelength-independent waveguide switch that can direct an input light signal onto either of two different-length output waveguides. In some embodiments, the directional couplers are thermo-optic based. Some embodiments include a solid-state scanning system for scanning a sample signal along a line of object points on the sample under test.

To provide a reflected light measurement device capable of efficiently performing disconnection inspection on an optical connector, and a plurality of optical fibers. The reflected light measurement device 1 includes a laser light source 2, a beam splitter 3 that branches measurement laser light L into measurement laser light L1 to be transmitted and reference laser light L2 to be reflected, a reference mirror 4 including an optical path length varying mechanism capable of adjusting an optical path length of the reference laser light L2, an optical path length switching unit 5, and switches the optical path length of the reference laser light L2 to a plurality of fixed lengths, and a photometer 6 that receives measurement laser light L1 reflected at defect sites D1 and D2 such as disconnection inside connectors C1 and C2, and reference laser light L2 reflected by the reference mirror 4.

The present invention relates to an arrangement for the generation of images of optical sections of a three-dimensional (3D) volume in space such as an object, scene, or target, comprising: an illumination unit, an optical arrangement for the imaging of the object onto at least one spatially resolving detector, a scanning mechanism for scanning the entire object and a signal processing unit for the implementation of a method for digital reconstruction of a three-dimensional representation of the object from images of said object as obtained by said detector (which may be in a form of a hologram), wherein the optical arrangement includes a diffractive optical element (herein a phase pinhole), realized using a Spatial Light Modulator (SLM) configured to mimic an actual physical pinhole, while allowing the formation of a three-dimensional representation for a specific point of interest in said object, such that for each scanning position a single hologram or an image is recorded.