We present the design and fabrication aspects of an integrated optics interferometer used in the optical head of a compact and lightweight displacement sensor developed for spatial applications.

The process for fabricating the waveguides of the optical chip is a double thermal ion exchange of silver and sodium in a silicate glass. This two step process is adapted for the fabrication of high numerical aperture buried waveguides having negligible losses for bending radius as low as 10 mm.

The optical head of the sensor is composed of a reference arm, a sensing arm and an interferometer which generates a one dimensional fringe pattern allowing a multiphase detection. Four waveguides placed at the output of the interferometer deliver four ideally 90° phase shifted signals.

Date Published: 21 November 2017
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 10569, International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2000, 105691H (21 November 2017); doi: 10.1117/12.2307929

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 10569:
International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2000
Georges Otrio, Editor(s)