Past exam of the physics of atmospheres and oceans course of the University of Oxford / 2022 / 4 / a

A Michelson interferometer uses a beam splitter to divide collimated input light between a fixed mirror and a moving mirror. Returning beams recombine at the beam splitter; one output reaches a photodetector. A compensator plate can equalize the glass traversed in the two arms. Moving one mirror by $x$ changes the optical path difference by $2x$.

The usual nominal Fourier transform spectroscopy specification is $\delta \nu \simeq 1/d_{\max }$, where $d_{\max }$ is the maximum optical path difference measured from equal arms. It givesThis is a nominal spectral resolution element convention.^[ref] A symmetric rectangular scan from $-d_{\max }$ to $d_{\max }$ instead has a sinc instrumental line shape with first-zero offset $1/(2d_{\max })$. Quoting that first-zero criterion would give $d_{\max }=1$ cm; interferogram apodization and other linewidth criteria change the numerical factor. An exact mathematical minimum requires such a criterion.

In the measurement chain, the Michelson interferometer is the spectral analyzer or modulator, between the collection optics and the photodetector. It encodes the incoming radiation spectrum into an interferogram; detector electronics digitize that signal and a Fourier transform reconstructs the radiation spectrum. It does not itself turn radiant power into an electrical signal.