Optimization of a Michelson interferometer with a rotating retroreflector in optical design, spectral resolution, and optical throughput

Abstract

A newly designed Michelson interferometer for Fourier spectroscopy (J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 8, 1991 (1991)) utilizes a nutating retroreflector (cube corner mirror) to generate alternations in geometrical and optical paths. The practical optomechanical design of a Fourier-transform spectrometer incorporating a rotating retro- reflector for path-length alternation is considered. (The instrument has been given the name MIROR, for Michelson Interferometer with a Rotating Retroreflector.) Two parameters of the instrument are essential: the maximum optical path difference, which yields the spectral resolution of the instrument, and the diameter of the trans-mitted beam, which determines the throughput and hence the acievable signal-to-noise ratio. The maximum allowable beam diameter is cal- culated as a function of the geometry and the orientation of the rotating retroreflector and the other optical components.