Relativistic coupling of phase and amplitude noise in optical interferometry.

ABSTRACT

Extraneous motion of optical elements in an interferometer leads to excess noise. Typically, fluctuations in the effective path length lead to phase noise, while beam pointing fluctuations lead to apparent amplitude noise. For a transmissive optic moving along the optical axis, neither effect should exist. However, relativity of motion suggests that, even in this case, small corrections of order v/c (v the velocity of the optic) give rise to phase and amplitude noise on the light. Here we calculate the effect of this relativistic mechanism of noise coupling and discuss when such an effect would limit the sensitivity of optical interferometers.