A novel method, utilizing Lissajous figures and ellipse fitting, of calculating the phase difference between interferograms obtained from a phase shifting interferometer is described. Intensity bias and intensity modulation of interferograms are also calculated using this technique. Two new phase extraction algorithms are presented which use intensity and phase step information to calculate a surface from interferograms acquired with uneven phase steps. One algorithm allows surface phase to be calculated from two interferograms. Preliminary results from the Lissajous figure technique and the presented algorithms are discussed.
The rotation of the plane of polarization of light propagating along the axis of rotation of a rotating dielectric medium, as recently measured by Jones (1976), is examined by means of the usual formalism of the electrodynamics of a moving medium. The treatment goes beyond that of Fermi (1923) in including the effects of dispersion. It is found that the optical rotation includes a ‘dragging coefficient’ (1/
n
ϕ
) (
n
g
- 1/
n
ϕ
) (where
n
g
and
n
ϕ
are the group and phase refractive indices of the medium respectively) equal to that found for ‘aether drag’ in the transverse case or in the longitudinal case for a fluid medium with fixed boundaries.
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