Optical heterodyne detection

Optical heterodyne detection is a method of extracting information encoded as modulation of the phase and/or frequency (wavelength) of electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength band of visible or infrared light. The light signal is compared with standard or reference light from a "local oscillator" (LO) that would have a fixed offset in frequency and phase from the signal if the latter carried null information. "Heterodyne" signifies more than one frequency, in contrast to the single frequency employed in homodyne detection.

The comparison of the two light signals is typically accomplished by combining them in a photodiode detector, which has a response that is linear in energy, and hence quadratic in amplitude of electromagnetic field. Typically, the two light frequencies are similar enough that their difference or beat frequency produced by the detector is in the radio or microwave band that can be conveniently processed by electronic means.

This technique became widely applicable to topographical and velocity-sensitive imaging with the invention in the 1990's of synthetic array heterodyne detection. The light reflected from a target scene is focussed on a relatively inexpensive photodetector consisting of a single large physical pixel, while a different LO frequency is also tightly focussed on each virtual pixel of this detector, resulting in an electrical signal from the detector carrying a mixture of beat frequencies that can be electronically isolated and distributed spatially to present an image of the scene.

The optical heterodyne technique is also employed in microscopy, with medical applications.

The technique can also be applied to the convenient generation of stable microwave signals.

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