What is an optical delay line?
An Optical Delay Line (ODL) is an electric-optic-electric instrument. It performs fixed time delay(s), between a few nanoseconds up to several hundred microseconds, for RF signals from 10MHz up to 40GHz and more. On a more technical level, the RF input signal is converted into an optical modulated signal.
How does delay line interferometer work?
A delay line interferometer (DLI) can be a Mach–Zehnder interferometer or Michelson interferometer based on two-beam interference, in which one beam is time-delayed to the other by a desired interval. After recombination, the two beams interfere with each other constructively or destructively. …
What does an interferometer do?
Because of their wide application, interferometers come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They are used to measure everything from the smallest variations on the surface of a microscopic organism, to the structure of enormous expanses of gas and dust in the distant Universe, and now, to detect gravitational waves.
How accurate is an interferometer?
How accurate are interferometers? A state-of-the-art interferometer can measure distances to within 1 nanometer (one billionth of a meter, which is about the width of 10 hydrogen atoms), but like any other kind of measurement, it’s subject to errors.
Can you combine telescopes?
Given the limit to the diameter of mirrors and antennas we can produce, astronomers therefore turn to interferometry, by combining two or more telescopes to create a “virtual” instrument, called an interferometer.
How accurate are interferometers?
Where are interferometers used?
Which telescope has better resolution?
The Hubble Space Telescope
Answer: The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has a highest resolution of about 0.03 arcseconds, while the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) makes images with a resolution smaller than 0.001 arcsec. So, the VLBA has the HST beat when it comes to picture resolution.
Is an interferometer a telescope?
An astronomical interferometer or telescope array is a set of separate telescopes, mirror segments, or radio telescope antennas that work together as a single telescope to provide higher resolution images of astronomical objects such as stars, nebulas and galaxies by means of interferometry.