Please find attached a seminar from the Dept. of Physical Electronics for
your information and distribution (if relevant). Thank you, Esther*.*
*The seminar will take place on Thursday, **December 4th**, 2008***
* at 15:00, Room 206 at the Faculty of Engineering,*
*Wolfson Mechanical Eng. Buld.***
** * * * * Dept. SEMINAR * * * * * ***
*INCREASING THE SENSITIVITY OF OPTICAL SENSORS USING **NEW **INTERFEROMETER
DESIGNS*
*Ronen Levy *
Ph. D. student under the supervision of *Prof. Shlomo Ruschin*
* *
This research deals with increasing the sensitivity of optical sensors using
phase detection in optical interferometers. Three novel sensor structures
are introduced based on different interferometers structures: a variable
power splitting Mach-Zehnder interferometer, an integrated modal
interferometer, and a hetero-modal interferometer using spectral
interrogation. The last configuration includes the discovery of a new effect
that enables the sensitivity to increase without theoretical bounds, being
limited only by measurement considerations like noise and instabilities.
Theoretical analysis is conducted presenting analytic results supported by
numerical examples. Results show an increase in sensor sensitivity compared
to previously reported results - from 20% in the first structure to several
orders of magnitude in the last one.
