A CONTINUOUSLY VARIABLE DOUBLE SLIT SYSTEM AND THE FOURIER ANALYSIS OF MICHELSON'S STELLAR INTERFEROMETER

An experimental investigation was made to develop a procedure whereby the Michelson stellar interferometer could be used to space analyze an unknown quasi-monochromatic source function under Fraunhofer conditions. A continuously variable double slit system is described in detail which separates a pair of infinite parallel slits in a uniform bilateral fashion. The techniques involved in the retrieval of information from the interference pattern of the interferometer are shown to be: (1) place a fixed detector in the region of the first order of the diffraction curve, (b) allow the double slits in the interferometer to separate at a uniform rate, (c) obtain the visibility curve by determining the envelope of the tintensity versus slit separation distance curve from the previous step, and (d) Fourier transform the visibility curve to obtain the source function. (Author)