Method and apparatus for direct detection of signals from a differential delay heterodyne interferometric system

1. An apparatus for direct detection of signals from a differential delay heterodyne interferometric system, comprising:

a coherent optical signal source;

a compensator for receiving the optical signals from the coherent signal source and generating a plurality of pulses, frequency shifted with respect to each other;

an in line interferometric array receiving the frequency shifted pulses and reflecting interference signals;

a photodiode for detecting the interference signals; and

a direct detector receiving the interference signals for measuring the intensity of a plurality of points along each interference signal and calculating the phase information using the measured intensity points.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said direct detector comprises:

a transimpedence amplifier receiving the interference signals;

a loss pass filter receiving the output of the transimpedence amplifier;

a variable gain amplifier receiving the signal output from the filters;

an analog to digital converter for sampling intensity of the waveform from the variable gain amplifier; and

a digital demodulator for calculating the phase information.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the analog to digital converter samples the waveform at π/2 intervals.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the analog to digital converter samples each waveform for each pulse interval at a minimum of three points.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the direct detector acquires the desired phase information according to any one of the following equations:

φ 1 −φ 2 =a tan [( I 3 −I 1 )/( I 0 −I 2 )]

φ 1 −φ 2 =a tan [( I 3 −I 1 )/( I 1 +I 3 −2 I 2 )]

φ 1 −φ 2 =a tan [( I 0 +I 2 −2 I 1 )/( I 0 −I 2 )].

6. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the analog to digital converter equates the signal intensity of each waveform for each pulse interval according to three or more of the following equations:

I 0 =A+B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 ]

I 1 =A+B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 +π/2 ]=A−B sin [φ 1 −φ 2 ]

I 2 =A+B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 +π]=A−B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 ]

I 3 =A+B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 +3π/2 ]=A+B sin [φ 1 −φ 2 ]

I 4 =A+B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 +2 π]=I 0

where: A is an average signal amplitude, B is an interference signal amplitude, and φ 1 −φ 2 is the desired phase shift.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the digital demodulator acquires the desired phase information according to any one of the following equations:

φ 1 −φ 2 =a tan [( I 3 −I 1 )/( I 0 −I 2 )]

φ 1 −φ 2 =a tan [( I 3 −I 1 )/( I 1 +I 3 −2 I 2 )]

φ 1 −φ 2 =a tan [( I 0 +I 2 −2 I 1 )/( I 0 −I 2 )].

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the direct detector samples the interference signals at π/2 intervals.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the direct detector samples the interference signals for each pulse interval at a minimum of three points at π/2 intervals.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the direct detector samples the interference signals and equates each pulse interval sampled to three or more of the following equations:

I 0 =A+B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 ]

I 1 =A+B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 +π/2 ]=A−B sin [φ 1 −φ 2 ]

I 2 =A+B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 +π]=A−B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 ]

I 3 =A+B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 +3π/2 ]=A+B sin [φ 1 −φ 2 ]

I 4 =A+B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 +2 π]=I 0

where: A is an average signal amplitude, B is an interference signal amplitude, and φ 1 −φ 2 is the desired phase shift.

11. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the analog to digital converter samples each waveform for each pulse interval and equates the samples to three or more of the following equations:

I 0 =A+B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 ]

I 1 =(1 +x )( A−B sin [φ 1 −φ 2 ])

I 2 =(1+2 x )( A−B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 ])

I 3 =(1+3 x )( A+B sin [φ 1 −φ 2 ])

I 4 =(1+4 x )( A+B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 ])

where A is an average signal amplitude, B is an interference signal amplitude, and φ 1 −φ 2 is the desired phase shift, with x being a linear slope factor:

x =( I 4 −I 0 )/4 I 0 .

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the digital demodulator acquires the desired phase information according to any one of the following equations:

φ 1 −φ 2 =a tan [( S 3 −S 1 )/( S 0 −S 2 )]

φ 1 −φ 2 =a tan [(S 3 −S 1 )/( S 1 +S 3 −2 S 2 )]

φ 1 −φ 2 =a tan [( S 0 +S 2 −2 S 1 )/( S 0 −S 2 )]

where:

S 0 =I 0

S 1 =4( I 1 I 1 )/(3 I 0 +I 4 )

S 2 =4( I 0 I 2 )/(2 I 0 +2 I 4 )

S 3 =4( I 0 I 3 )/( I 0 +3 I 4 )

S 4 =I 0 .

13. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the direct detector samples the interference signals for each pulse interval and equates the sample signals to three or more of the following equations:

I 0 =A+B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 ]

I 1 =(1 +x )( A−B sin [φ 1 −φ 2 ])

I 2 =(1+2 x )( A−B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 ])

I 3 =(1+3 x )( A+B sin [φ 1 −φ 2 ])

I 4 =(1+4 x )( A+B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 ])

where A is an average signal amplitude, B is an interference signal amplitude, and φ 1 −φ 2 is the desired phase shift, with x being a linear slope factor:

x =( I 4 −I 0 )/4 I 0 .

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the direct detector acquires the desired phase information according to any one of the following equations:

φ 1 −φ 2 =a tan [( S 3 −S 1 )/( S 0 −S 2 )]

φ 1 −φ 2 =a tan [( S 3 −S 1 )/( S 1 +S 3 −2 S 2 )]

φ 1 −φ 2 =a tan [( S 0 +S 2 −2 S 1 )/( S 0 −S 2 )]

where:

S 0 =I 0

S 1 =4( I 1 I 1 )/(3 I 0 +I 4 )

S 2 =4( I 0 −I 2 )/(2 I 0 +2 I 4 )

S 3 =4( I 0 I 3 )/( I 0 +3 I 4 )

S 4 =I 0 .

15. A method for direct detection of signals from a differential delay heterodyne in line interferometric system that receives pulsed optical signals from an optical signal source, the method comprising the steps:

frequency shifting the pulsed optical signals with respect to each signal path and feeding the frequency shifted pulses into the interferometric system;

detecting the interference signals from the interferometric system;

measuring the signal intensity of a plurality of points along each interference signal interval; and

calculating phase information using the measured intensity points.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the signal intensity of the plurality of points along each interference signal interval is measured at π/2 intervals.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the signal intensity is measured at a minimum of three points for each interference signal interval.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the signal intensity of each interference signal interval is equated to three or more of the following equations:

I 0 =A+B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 ]

I 1 =A+B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 +π/2 ]=A−B sin [φ 1 −φ 2 ]

I 2 =A+B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 +π]=A−B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 ]

I 3 =A+B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 +3π/2 ]=A+B sin [φ 1 −φ 2 ]

I 4 =A+B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 +2 π]=I 0

where: A is an average signal amplitude, B is an interference signal amplitude, and φ 1 −φ 2 is the desired phase shift.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the phase information is determined according to any one of the following equations:

φ 1 −φ 2 =a tan [( I 3 −I 1 )/( I 0 −I 2 )]

φ 1 −φ 2 =a tan [( I 3 −I 1 )/( I 1 +I 3 −2 I 2 )]

φ 1 −φ 2 =a tan [( I 0 +I 2 −2 I 1 )/( I 0 −I 2 )].

20. The method of claim 15 wherein the signal intensity of each interference signal interval is equated to three or more of the following equations:

I 0 =A+B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 ]

I 1 =(1 +x )( A−B sin [φ 1 −φ 2 ])

I 2 =(1+2 x )( A−B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 ])

I 3 =(1+3 x )( A+B sin [φ 1 −φ 2 ])

I 4 =(1+4 x )( A+B cos [φ 1 −φ 2 ])

where A is an average signal amplitude, B is an interference signal amplitude, and φ 1 −φ 2 is the desired phase shift, with x being a linear slope factor:

x =( I 4 −I 0 )/4 I 0 .

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the phase information is determined according to any one of the following equations:

φ 1 −φ 2 =a tan [( S 3 −S 1 )/( S 0 −S 2 )]

φ 1 −φ 2 =a tan [( S 3 −S 1 )/( S 1 +S 3 −2 S 2 )]

φ 1 −φ 2 =a tan [( S 0 +S 2 −2 S 1 )/( S 0 −S 2 )]

where:

S 0 =I 0

S 1 =4( I 0 I 1 )/(3 I 0 +I 4 )

S 2 =4( I 0 I 2 )/(2 I 0 +2 I 4 )

S 3 =4( I 0 I 3 )/( I 0 +3 I 4 )

S 4 =I 0 .