Quadrature detection of a Doppler signal

We have employed a quadrature detection technique to measure theDoppler signal from a moving target. We mix a circularly polarizedreference with a linearly polarized signal to produce an output thatcontains the real and the imaginary parts of the interference field inthe two output polarizations. We are thus able to measure thein-phase and the quadrature components of an interferometric signalsimultaneously by splitting the output with a polarizing beamsplitter. We present data that demonstrate our ability through thistechnique to obtain both the amplitude and the frequency of vibrationof an audio speaker. We also demonstrate the technique's abilityto give one access to the direction of motion and instantaneousposition of the target.