Lateral-shearing, delay-dithering Mach-Zehnder interferometer for spatial coherence measurement

An image-shearing interferometer of Mach-Zehnder type with corner cubes is introduced for the purpose of measuring spatial coherence at the output of inhomogeneous optical sources, such as multimode fibers (MMFs). One arm of the interferometer is modulated in optical delay to produce dynamic interference fringes. Fringe visibility and the two individual intensities are measured nearly simultaneously to allow direct calculation of the modulus of the complex degree of coherence as a function of the lateral shear between the two interferometer arms. Spatial degree of coherence is measured for a step-index MMF pumped with monochromatic and broadband optical sources.