Equally spaced spectral components

ID: past-exam-of-the-optics-and-electrodynamics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2018/section-b/b2/equally-spaced-spectral-components

For equal-intensity lines of spacing , sum their correlations as a geometric series:
The interferogram of an equally spaced spectral multiplet has normalized visibility
In the second original plot, full revivals occur at approximately , so
Between and there are three zeros, near , and , and two small subsidiary lobes. Since the model has zeros between adjacent revivals,
The peak envelope of about and the intensity background of about are consistent with four equal components in the source's normalization, but the internal zero count is the useful shape-based check. The inference assumes the equal spectral weights represented by the graph; revival spacing alone does not fix the number of lines, and arbitrary unequal or hidden components would require more spectral information. Delayed self-interference measures spectral powers, not the relative phases between different source frequencies, so these revivals alone do not prove that the source emits a phase-locked pulse train.

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