Delta interferometer: A polarization sensitive interferometer

Abstract

A new type of polarization sensitive interferometer is proposed, which is named as Delta interferometer due to the geometry of the simplest interferometer looks like Greek letter, Delta. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time that this type of interferometer is proposed. The main difference between Delta interferometer and other existed interferometer, such as Michelson interferometer, Mach-Zehnder interferometer, Young\rq{}s double-slit interferometer, is that the two interfering paths are asymmetrical in Delta interferometer, which makes it polarization sensitive. The visibility of the first-order interference pattern observed in Delta interferometer is dependent on the polarization of the incidental light. Optical coherence theory is employed to interpret the phenomenon and a single-mode continuous-wave laser is employed to verify the theoretical predictions. The theoretical and experimental results are consistent. Delta interferometer provides a perfect tool to study the reflection of electric field in different polarizations and may find applications in polarization sensitive scenarios.